Scripting Shaders and RayCasts

I did my first bit of Javascripting today, I managed to make the character crouch. It sounds really simple but the problems of the character standing straight back up again, being able to spin on her feet move, well travel without moving her legs. All sorted, now I need to write a fall over script and a hit detection script where if they are spotted they get chased. I have had some help by various people and apparently a raycast is how I should go about this, it basically draws light for a set amount of time and it can test what is hit and what isn't. I have also downloaded the Unity Pro trial, and have been playing with shaders, some are absolutely brilliant :) I found one that someone had written which basically makes the dark, darker... spooky?

Been reading this :)

http://unity3d.com/support/documentation/ScriptReference/Physics.Raycast.html?from=RaycastHit