For the majority of use, you will probably never have to go past this section of the dialog.

The Thickness slider controls the thickness of the main segments relative to their length (i.e., the length of the effect).

The Detail slider controls how many pieces the segments are broken up into. For the extreme values: at 0% detail, the bolt is one piece; at 100% detail, the bolt is broken into many pieces. High detail carries with it high facet count, so be careful.

The Quality slider controls the rendering quality of the lightning bolt by controlling the number of facets in the mesh. For the extreme values: 0% quality results in each segment being constructed from six facets (i.e., simple three sided objects); 100% quality results in each main segment being constructed from 20 facets and in each secondary segment from fewer facets proportional to their width. You can see how the slider controls the facet count by looking at the Preview window.

The Amount shown slider controls how much of the bolt is currently visible. This is useful in creating the illusion of bolt movement by only showing a certain percentage of the actual bolt. By setting the slider to 0% at the beginning frame, and then setting it to 100% at the end frame, an increasing amount of the bolt will be seen as the animation progresses. The amount always starts at the source and works towards the target.