I just checked out my old tutorial on VASST and it appears to not work the same way in the newer Vegas 6 version. The parent/child setup has changed. Setup the same way with two tracks of text (one is a duplicate) and the light beam on track 2. Make track 2 a child to track 1. Track 3 is not a child anymore. Track 1 has the Mask Generator applied to the Track FX insert instead of the old way in the parent/child path. Use the Alpha preset. Keyframe the track 2 beam with track motion or 3DLE plugin. I made a new veg file if anyone wants it or maybe Douglas will post it at VASST. Don't forget to experiment.

Gary

Send it over, Gary. I'll replace the veg. It's more or less still the same, just the mask gen vs the blending mode now.

just sent it in email to you. thank you

Gary

Thanks, Lads! However, it's not easy for me! Been fooling around with it for over and hour. What's up with the parent/child thing? How do I mask it? I also seem to only be able to move the spotlight with the keyframes in the color generator, not on the timeline (probably just can't see it). Also tried to follow the tutorial on the vasst site, but looks like that's for Vegas 3. Any further instructions would be appreciated!
Thanks!

Follow the tutorial on the Vasst site except make the changes as we said as to how the parent, child and Mask FX are used.

Basically the top track provides the mask for the light beam on track 2. The third track is the actual text that is seen and the fourth track is the background. Keyframe motion on track 2, the light beam. Download my new veg I sent to Spot and and disect it to see how it all actaully works. Track 1 and Track 3 have to be the same text so they overlap precisely. Change the veg file with what you actually need for text and background.

Try to learn more about Parent/Child use in Vegas and the Mask Generator FX. Explore the media generator that is used to makle the light beam. It is three points with point 1 and 3 set to full transparency in the alpha.

GG