I've had a heck of a time changing the model attached to an object...or adding one to something that doesn't have one (like an activator created with right-click: New) could someone walk me through how to add, say, a wisp graphic to such an activator?

You have to unpack your meshes BSA file. Or you have to have the NIF file in the Meshes folder in order to add the mesh.

You cannot add meshes from the BSA archive file.

So the only way to make a visible activator without blender or something is to use one that's already visible? Blech! most of them are levers and bridges and things, not floating motes of light...or is there a way to "unpack" the meshes with the CK?

Google search for: bsa unpacker skyrim

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQFKtI6gn9Y

Being snide is not a good way to get repeat help in the future.
There are many BSA unpackers and you can pick the one you like.

Well I found one...unfortunately, the Wisps are in a subfolder that's supposed to be called "effects"....and there is no Skyrim - Effects.bsa file. Guess no wisp activators for me...

Edit...AHA! Sneaky file structure, they don't show the whole path...it's under meshes/effects

There is an 'effects' folder in both the 'meshes' and 'textures' folder.
In the BSA unpacker I use, you can expand each folder and view the contents of that folder to find the 'effects' folder within.

The one I wound up with just lists them all one after the other, though you can sort them by path...thus why I probably coulda used a link to a GOOD unpacker, whereas I just wound up with one near the top o the list that MalwareBytes didn't puke it's guts out at.

Hmn...giving the node a mesh adds gravity to it...I'll have to find a way to turn that off now...heh...though it should also add collision detection and make it bounce off things now instead of just going right through buildings, if I can get the gravity off and TranslateTo allows it to react to obstacles.