Q:

How to add an animated glint running through the edge of my alphabet?

I want to show an animated glint/shine running through the edge of my 3-D alphabet. I basically want the animated shine to trace over the edges of the alphabet once. Basically this but running over the edges of the alphabet.

I'm working in blender render.

A:

Animate a lamp which creates a highlight on the text (as the specular component of the text's material).

Add a lamp (point light), and uncheck Diffuse, since we only need the specular reflection as a concentrated highlight.
In the viewport, choose GLSL shading (instead of multitextured) in textured mode to preview the shading.
Adjust the text's material's specular hardness and intensity as needed.
Position the lamp while looking through the camera at its start position and set a location keyframe. Repeat with the end position.

To make the specular highlight only appear at the edges position the lamp directly underneath/beside the text and give it some depth.

If you want to create a photographic glow on the highlight, do it in the compositor. After rendering (F12) enable the compositor nodes. Adding a glare node or screening the blurred highlights will produce an effect of light dispersion across highlighted areas.

