Step one:
Create a new document in RGB mode. Fill the background with black. Set the resolution to 72 dpi for screen display.

Step two:
Use the text tool to place the text.

Step three:
In this example, the color of the text is set to 255R, 225G to create a gold effect in the final rendering.

Step four:
Flatten the image to render the type and drop in onto the black background. Duplicate the layer at least 5 times. The more steps you create here, the smoother the final animation. Click the eye icon on all the layers to make them hidden leaving only the bottom layer active and visible.

Step five:
From the Filter menu choose Render>Lighting Effects. For the style choose Soft Omni. Set the properties to Shiny and Metallic. For the Texture Channel select Blue. The White is high check box should be checked, and drag the slider to the right. Adjust the size of the spotlight to just cover the text. Set the center of the spot light at the left edge of the image.



Step six:
Make the next layer up visible and active. Repeat the lighting effect for each of the layers. The spotlight size and settings remain as you left them so you only have to adjust the position, moving the center point to the right to progressively reveal more of the text in each layer.



Step seven:
Once all the frames are lit, choose File > Jump to > Adobe ImageReady. Go to the palette menu and choose Make frames from Layers. You can set the delay time for all the frames in the Animation palette menu, but lengthening the value directly below the first and last frames enhances the "sweep" of the spotlight. You can copy and paste frames and then reverse selected frames to make the spotlight pan back and forth. Keep in mind that ImageReady plays an animation slower than the same GIF will play in a Web Browser.



Step eight:
This technique can be done with earlier versions of PhotoShop, so if you don't have ImageReady, you can use another GIF animation program like GIF Builder to render the layers in the final animated GIF.