I really would advise a good read through of the Props and Animation Concepts section of the Help Guide (Press F1 in CTA). You will find lots of invaluable information there on working with Props and Sprites.
For things like shafts you can simply draw them in a package like DrawPlus or Adobe Flash and import them into your custom library. Remember that any image can become a prop in CTA so if you don't wish to draw anything, just find a suitable object in a photo, remove the background and then add to CTA.
For animated effects like smoke, water and fire you can find many of these pre made in the packs below.
Animated Effects Vol.1
Animated Effects Vol.2
Peter
Forum Administrator
www.reallusion.com