need advice for particle stream project

I am trying to make a light beam. I got the right transparency and color that i want, but the stream of particles looks splotchy and uneven, No matter what i try i cant get the particles of my light beam to look like an even smooth transparent stream. Any ideas from the more experienced here? Thanks.

Hmmm... smooth particle streams. I rarely manage to get smooth particle streams.

I think you could probably set the particle size so that they're longer on their y-axis than their x-axis, then set the flag PSYS_PART_FOLLOW_VELOCITY_MASK. This rotates their y-axis to point in the direction that they're moving, so they tend to overlap and fill up the gaps between the clumps.

Don't make them too long on the y-axis, though, or things might start looking weird with the overlaps. Of course, being transparent and overlapping, I imagine they'll still look kinda splotchy. Ah well.