This was a piece I did last year. CGSociety did a small piece on it as well, but wanted to share it (yes, I know Xmas has passed). This was modeled in C4D with FX work in FumeFX and 3DS Max, comp in AE.
Cheers
Andy
ANDY LEFTON
Senior 3D/VFX artist. Lead CG at MadMicrobe, Film maker