Light trails like a sparkler would involve a particle system. There are free video tutorials at digital tutors.com on the basics of a particle system. Making the particles glow however is a different story. Your maya docs will tell you what you can do with your particle systems. There's a tool I've built for generating cigarette smoke in maya but it is also useful for the light trail effect you describe. You can check it out here I have put it up as a commercial asset but if you'd like to try a free version you can contact me at forrest.brent@gmail.com cheers B