ScottyDawg,
Unfortunately I can't provide you with volumetric lighting tutorials, but I may give you my input about this topic.
In Softimage, a volumetric beam is called a Volume Light - wich is a light shader.
To apply a Volume Light to a source of light, you have to
- Make sure that you render with mental ray.
- Make sure that your light source is a spot light, otherwise the effect will not be usable,
- Make sure that you're light source casts shadows, otherwise the beam will not be blocked by surfaces.
- Select your light, and go in Light > FxDirector
- Check Volume in the FxDirector window's middle section
- On the top menu (in the FxDirector window), select Volume. In this section you have several properties. On the same top menu, you also have Volume (Global). These settings will apply to all volume light.
After exiting from FxDirector, to return to the Volume Light parameters, select the star icon that appeared on your light and go in Info > Custom Effect
Of course the parameters of the light source and Volume Light are linked. If your light emit no light, the beam will not be visible.
A thing that can greatly add to your volumetric scene is the use of Depth Fading. This is found in Matter > Atmosphere > Depth Fading. Simply put, it is a fog.
Hope this helps!
Bernard Lebel
