[Jeremey Fleischer]

Hey James, I think I figured out how to achieve the effect used in the Lie To Me intro. I’ve been wondering myself how to do this, and after some playing around, I figured it out. Here’s what to do:

I created a new solid and applied the Beam effect to that layer. Next, I created another new solid and applied the Grid effect (Generate > Grid). I then adjusted the settings on the Grid effect to the following (these may differ depending on your Composition Size): Size From – Width & Height Sliders; Width – 10; Height – 200; Border – 5. I then adjusted the Scale of the solid layer with the Grid effect applied, so that the height only is at 560% and then positioned so that no horizontal lines show on the stage. Then, making sure the Grid layer is above the Beam layer, add a Luma Matte to the Beam layer and it should create a dotted line. This works great unless the Beam is vertical. If you are primarily using the Beam in a Vertical position, then you would need to invert the Grid settings so that only Horizontal lines appear.

Does that make sense? Let me know if it doesn’t work or make sense.