First let me say I dont normaly post just lurk and search for the info I need but, I have been having a blast running through Kixums tuts and carrara in general and this is where my questions begin. :)
(see the following links)

1. The mays and lighting was a blast to work with but I did notice something that I am not sure is possible to fix, in 2 of the 3 images I have a inf plane mapped with mirror mat but when 3d aura is applied the reflection isnt updated is there a way around this or is it just not possible?

2. As per the tut everything in the sceen aside from lights and such was done with the spline modeler of note the blade has some chop or stepping is there any way to smooth that out?

3. With playing with the lights some I was wondering is there any way to instead of using a spline for the blade to maybe use the lights in some fashion to create a sort of laser blade effect?

Thanks in advance for reading my trash typing :) and for any help yall might provide :)

www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php

www.divshare.com/download/254946-17f

www.divshare.com/download/254940-f1f

Hi DS, You have been lurking awhile. ;) Glad you're enjoying Carrara and Kix's tutorials 1) Unfortunately, 3D aura is a post render effect and does not show up in reflected objects. (Light cones and light spheres are actively rendered and do show up in reflections) 2) That 'stair stepping' is a function of the 3D aura itself - it does not antialias the edges and creates jaggies at screen resolutions. The only fix for that is to render the image at a greater resolution and scale it down. :0/ 3) I don't think lights would do the job for you when creating a laser blade effect. A better way, and this would show up in reflections too, is to create a pinwheel of long alpha plane texture maps with a glow. In actual film production, these effects, including reflections, are actually created in post-production with software like Shake or After Effects and not done with 3D apps. Ahhhhhh, I'm still hunting for the perfect software that does it all. :D Mark

So if I understand you correctly I could render out the handle and post in the laser blade effect with either of those products you suggested or did I miss your point alltogether.
BTW have after effects but never much liked it maybe I will look into shake or LOL maybe learn to use after effects better I have always been more comfy with photoshop. :)

The fastest way to get an aura and reflection of an aura would be Photoshop for sure. Shake and AE make sense for motion but not stills - too much additional work involved.

hehe Yeah I get it now serves me right for staying up to late last night been playing with it some in PS and see what you mean now but have had to rest my eyes at this point. I will keep ya updated when I get to working it in PS more.

Thanks again for the help :)

The KPT filters  set for Photoshop etc are far from being out of date. Some great effects which can be added to images.