This is something like what I am trying to acheive, thanks to Tricecold for his excellent advice on creating volumetric lighting. just goes to show you, if you don't know how ..... just ask someone, this forum is excellent for that as most members are more then willing to help out 
Just need to clean it up a lot more, add a bit more mood, maybe some more things to attract attention and focus the viewers eye to the scene ....... could do with some rock texture or this mythical bump map thing people talk about, if I can work out how to do it 
Still, not too bad for my first ever Maya effort I think .....
I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species. I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You move to an area, and you multiply, and multiply, until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet, you are a plague, and we are the cure.