A question came up in the DAZ Carrara Forum about creating a "Wormhole" in Carrara.  I've never tried anything like that in Carrara, but I really like Particle Illusion for animated FX.  It's a 2D program that can overlay any still image or video, and has many hundreds of free presets (called "emitters") for download at its website. The screenshot below shows on preset that might be used for a wormhole - when animated, it sort of shimmers.  You can see some of the many adjustment parameters at the left.  It renders in real time, or even faster sometimes (really), a big plus for me as a 48 Hour Film contest participant.  Yes, I do almost all my 3D animation in Carrara, but if there's a better tool for a particular job, I'll look at it.  More here, including a 30 day free trial:

http://www.wondertouch.com/index_2.asp