Here the videos - it took me some effort. The videos I recorded were 4K, and became to big to post. So I had to downsize them to 1080p.

Just another attempt to post the videos, this time embedded:

https://www.tweaking4all.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/startrek-phaser-normal-1.mp4

https://www.tweaking4all.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/startrek-phaser-diffuse-1.mp4

And the INO file for the Arduino IDE ...

Hi Hans,

I don´t know what to say. Really, I´m speechless!

It is exactly what I was looking for and even more. To be able to set various parameters is great (had some funny color issues by tweaking them too hard).

Compared to my quick and dirty, copy and paste sketch, yours is a lot of clever and hard work. Many thanks for that!

There are two additional things I would like to implement.

Which line I can change to have the LED not stay on after pulsing? So after the pulsing the LED goes off. But it is not essential.

The second things is, the code is so complex, I don´t know where to put a push button command and how to have the effect play like 3 times after pushing the button?

It would be nice to push a button, have the effect play 3 (or so) times and after pushing it again, have the effect play again for 3 times. Will it still be shooting at random places then?

Hi Trace,

glad to hear you like the code 

Like I said: it was a fun little project, and if fully functional, maybe I'll add it to the LED effects article.

As for your questions;

1) Dark laser after pulsing effect

I did not think about that haha ...
The best place would be to add "setAll(0,0,0);" at the end of the "startrek_phaser()"" function.

So:

void startrek_phaser(byte PhaserRed, byte PhaserGreen, byte PhaserBlue, int TargetLED,
                     byte PhaserWidth, byte ShootingWidth, int msAimDelay, 
                     int PulsateAmount, int msPulsateDelayBright, int msPulsateDelayDarker) 
{
  // These define how much the outer LEDs sim during Aiming, Shooting and Pulsating
  #define DimmingPhaserAim 200
  #define DimmingShoot     128
  #define DimmingPulsing   128
  ... 

  setAll(0,0,0); // <-- add this just before the last accolade
}

2) Where to put the push button

Well, the best way would be in the "void loop()" function - this is where you'd usually do things. 

Start by pretending the "startrek_phaser()" function code does not exist and implement a push button activity as you'd normally would do.

Then when the button gets pushed, call the "startrek_phaser()" function 3 times, or make a short for-loop that calls "startrek_phaser()" function 3 times.

For example, start with this push-button example for the Arduino and slightly modify it to respond to a button push (seeing the button being released as the "push"), so you'll get something like the code below. Note: I removed the ledPIN from that example, since we do not use it here.

...
// constants won't change. They're used here to set pin numbers:
#define buttonPin 2;     // the number of the pushbutton pin
int buttonState = 0;         // variable for reading the pushbutton status
...

void setup() {
  ...
  // initialize the pushbutton pin as an input:
  pinMode(buttonPin, INPUT);
}
void loop() {
  // read the state of the pushbutton value:
  buttonState = digitalRead(buttonPin);
  // check if the pushbutton is pressed. If it is, the buttonState is HIGH:
  if (buttonState == HIGH) {
    // turn phaser on 3x:
    startrek_phaser( 0xff, 0x90, 0, -1, 4, 4, 10, 20, 60, 40);
    startrek_phaser( 0xff, 0x90, 0, -1, 4, 4, 10, 20, 60, 40);
    startrek_phaser( 0xff, 0x90, 0, -1, 4, 4, 10, 20, 60, 40); 
  } 
}
...

So all combined and untested (bold is what I have added) you should get something like this:

#include "FastLED.h"
#include <EEPROM.h>
#define NUM_LEDS 60
CRGB leds[NUM_LEDS];
#define PIN 6
#define buttonPin 2;     // the number of the pushbutton pin
int buttonState = 0;     // variable for reading the pushbutton status
void setup()
{
  FastLED.addLeds<WS2811, PIN, GRB>(leds, NUM_LEDS).setCorrection( TypicalLEDStrip );
  randomSeed(analogRead(0)); // for a better random
  // initialize the pushbutton pin as an input:
  pinMode(buttonPin, INPUT);
}
void loop() 
{
  // read the state of the pushbutton value:
  buttonState = digitalRead(buttonPin);
  // check if the pushbutton is pressed. If it is, the buttonState is HIGH:
  if (buttonState == HIGH) {
    // turn phaser on 3x:
    startrek_phaser( 0xff, 0x90, 0, -1, 4, 4, 10, 20, 60, 40);
    startrek_phaser( 0xff, 0x90, 0, -1, 4, 4, 10, 20, 60, 40);
    startrek_phaser( 0xff, 0x90, 0, -1, 4, 4, 10, 20, 60, 40); 
  } 
}



void startrek_phaser(byte PhaserRed, byte PhaserGreen, byte PhaserBlue, int TargetLED,
                     byte PhaserWidth, byte ShootingWidth, int msAimDelay, 
                     int PulsateAmount, int msPulsateDelayBright, int msPulsateDelayDarker) 
{
  // These define how much the outer LEDs sim during Aiming, Shooting and Pulsating
  #define DimmingPhaserAim 200
  #define DimmingShoot     128
  #define DimmingPulsing   128
  int PhaserHalf = PhaserWidth/2; // division will take integer part: 3/2 = 1.5 -> 1,  4/2 = 2 -> 2
  int PhaserCenterWidth = 2 - (PhaserWidth%2); // odd numbers: 1, even numbers: 2
  int PhaserAim;
  
  if(TargetLED==-1) 
  {
    PhaserAim = random(NUM_LEDS);     // Pick random aim point
    
    if(PhaserAim<PhaserHalf)         // just making sure we do not go out of the range of LEDs
    {
      PhaserAim = PhaserWidth;
    }
    else if(PhaserAim+PhaserHalf>NUM_LEDS)
    {
      PhaserAim = NUM_LEDS-PhaserHalf;
    }
  }
  else
  {
    PhaserAim = TargetLED;
  }
  
  int StepsLeftside  = PhaserAim;             // 0 - PhaserAim
  int StepsRightside = NUM_LEDS-PhaserAim;    // PhaserAim - NUM_LEDS
  
  int maxSteps = max( StepsLeftside, StepsRightside );
  
  int LEDPos; 
  
  // move LEDs from outside to phaser position
  
  for(int counter=0; counter<=maxSteps; counter++) 
  {
    setAll(0,0,0); // set all LEDs dark
    // Left side towards aim point
    
    LEDPos    = PhaserAim-maxSteps+counter;
    
    if( LEDPos >= 0 ) {
      for (int PhaserBlock = 0; PhaserBlock<PhaserWidth; PhaserBlock++) 
      {
        if(LEDPos+PhaserBlock>0) 
        {
          leds[LEDPos+PhaserBlock] = CRGB( PhaserRed, PhaserGreen, PhaserBlue);
          // only center (odd width) or center 2 LEDs (even width) should be bright, others need to fade
          if  ( ( (PhaserCenterWidth==1) && (PhaserBlock!=PhaserHalf) ) || 
                ( (PhaserCenterWidth==2) && (PhaserBlock!=PhaserHalf-1) && (PhaserBlock!=PhaserHalf) ) ) 
          {
            leds[LEDPos+PhaserBlock].fadeLightBy( DimmingPhaserAim );
          }
        } 
      }
    }
    // Right side towards aim point
    LEDPos = PhaserAim+maxSteps-counter;
    
    if( LEDPos < NUM_LEDS ) {
      for (int PhaserBlock = 0; PhaserBlock<PhaserWidth; PhaserBlock++) 
      {
        if(LEDPos+PhaserBlock<NUM_LEDS) 
        {
          leds[LEDPos+PhaserBlock] = CRGB( PhaserRed, PhaserGreen, PhaserBlue);
          // only center (odd width) or center 2 LEDs (even width) should be bright, others need to fade
          if  ( ( (PhaserCenterWidth==1) && (PhaserBlock!=PhaserHalf) ) || 
                ( (PhaserCenterWidth==2) && (PhaserBlock!=PhaserHalf-1) && (PhaserBlock!=PhaserHalf) ) ) 
          {
            leds[LEDPos+PhaserBlock].fadeLightBy( DimmingPhaserAim );
          }
        } 
      }
    }
    FastLED.show();
    delay(msAimDelay);
  }
  // pulsing LEDs when firing phaser
  LEDPos     = PhaserAim;
  PhaserHalf = ShootingWidth/2; // division will take integer part: 3/2 = 1.5 -> 1,  4/2 = 2 -> 2
  PhaserCenterWidth = 2 - (ShootingWidth%2); // odd numbers: 1, even numbers: 2
  setAll(0,0,0); // set all to black since shooting width may be different than aiming width
  for(int counter=0; counter<PulsateAmount; counter++) {
    // Set phaser at aim position to the usual brightness
    for (int PhaserBlock = 0; PhaserBlock<ShootingWidth; PhaserBlock++) 
    {
      leds[LEDPos+PhaserBlock] = CRGB( PhaserRed, PhaserGreen, PhaserBlue);
      // only center (odd width) or center 2 LEDs (even width) should be bright, others need to fade
      if  ( ( (PhaserCenterWidth==1) && (PhaserBlock!=PhaserHalf) ) || 
            ( (PhaserCenterWidth==2) && (PhaserBlock!=PhaserHalf-1) && (PhaserBlock!=PhaserHalf) ) ) 
      {
        leds[LEDPos+PhaserBlock].fadeLightBy( DimmingShoot );
      }
    }
    FastLED.show();
    delay(msPulsateDelayBright);
    // Make the outer LEDs pulsate (not the center LED or LEDs)
    for (int PhaserBlock = 0; PhaserBlock<ShootingWidth; PhaserBlock++) 
    {
      if  ( ( (PhaserCenterWidth==1) && (PhaserBlock!=PhaserHalf) ) || 
            ( (PhaserCenterWidth==2) && (PhaserBlock!=PhaserHalf-1) && (PhaserBlock!=PhaserHalf) ) ) 
      {
        leds[LEDPos+PhaserBlock].fadeLightBy( DimmingPulsing );
      }
    }
    FastLED.show();
    delay(msPulsateDelayDarker);
  }

  setAll(0,0,0);
}
// Set all LEDs to a given color and apply it (visible)
void setAll(byte red, byte green, byte blue) {
  for(int i = 0; i < NUM_LEDS; i++ ) {
    leds = CRGB(red, green, blue);
  }
  
  FastLED.show();
}