If you don't want to use a skeleton geometry for those internal beams of light, you can try something that involves the view direction and the surface normal, like this: http://simonschreibt.de/gat/world-of-warcraft-balloon/
Hi guys, I'm currently looking to texture a character of mine, who I've concepted to have robotic arms with energy flowing through them. The kind of energy I had in mind is very similar to Algalon from World of Warcraft (linked below) which features a translucent, astral kind of texture.…