Star Trek beam vfx

Hello together,

i want to create a special effect like in star trek.
Something like that as reference:

At the beginning it seams not to difficult for me, just some particles spinning around an object. I tried some particle systems and force fields (path) without any satisfactory results. The main point is that a spinning particle appears on an different place at a different time. So single every frame i get a bunch of points like this:

I ask myself what to do to get the points together simulating a slim line like in the reference i posted. Possible questions were:

  • more particles so that they overlays each other
  • sampled motion blur
  • tube meshes with an alpha texture spinning around its centers

Anyone further ideas?

Heres a trick I made real quick. Added controls: wavy effect, spinning control, beam location.



Beam effect.blend (966 KB)