Looks like each side has to travel about 12". I was thinking that I could have matching pairs like you mentioned, then would only have to create the effect for one side and mirror it on the other. My original intention was to cast the existing phaser strip in clear resin, then have the LEDs on the inside that illuminate it indirectly so you can't tell it's simply a strip of leds. I want it to be one smooth animation all the way to the front.
Lots of work to cast and then replace the opaque plastic that's there, but worth it I think. I'll check out the chip you mention and see what it offers.
Thanks for everyone's ideas. It's great to be part of this community!