O.K, The tga file had no mask and was showing as invisible. I tried another file and it worked. I loaded the earth_tga file into paint shop pro, gave it a mask, save and used it, and it worked. However I still find that particle_lifepan has to be initialized with a value like 100 or so, or the particles die before they are visible.

Any how I got it working and it's a great effect. I am definately going to play around with particles.

Looking forward to the next magazine.