Text effects with shaders (Advanced)

Hey guys, quick question. Does anyone know how to implement text shaders in the Unity UI.Text? I want to achieve a dissolve/"mask with gradient" effect, something relatively easy in a 3D model, but since each letter is considered a quad in Unity, I'm having difficulties implementing a shader that behaves as a gradient mask for a textbox.

Something similar to what I want to achieve is done by Supergiant in Pyre:

Text effect example

I found an interesting effect done by Code Avarice here (but for 3D models):

Burning edges + Dissolve effect

I'm quite a begginer when it comes to shaders, but it's been impossible for me to find good tutorials or resources for text related effects.

If you don't know how to solve this specific problem but can point me in the right direction, your help will be greatly appreciated as well :)