Ambitious project, Nebula! You can make parallel light sources (in RDS they're called "distant lights") but they don't have the kind of control you're looking for. I think Eric's tube light is the answer for you, although you'll still have to build the beam itself, as the light isn't visible. The only way I can think of to get all your guys to snap to attention simultaneously is to create one and duplicate him. Yeah, tedious, but it'd work. (I'd actually make three or four different guys, then duplicate them in random intervals so everybody doesn't snap exactly the same way. And, yes, in RDS, at least, duplicating an object (or group) carries the animation events with it. You know, I'm a native speaker of English, and I don't understand some of your references. I think it's because I don't play computer games, and I think you're talking about some of them.... I've seen tuts on using RDS to create morph targets for Poser. I think you might want to look in the poser info here. You might also ask Clint H; he used to do a lot of Carrara to Poser stuff. (I think you can send him e-mail through Renderosity or click on his link on the B-Movie contest banner in this forum.) Am looking forward to seeing the shot you're working on. Sounds very cool.