Download source
files here. 1. Create a canvas of 400 wide x
100 high. Background color of white.
2. Select the Rounded Rectangle
tool from the Tools Floating Panel. Draw a Rectangle at
350w x 30h. With the rounded rectangle still selected
go to the Object Floating Panel and change the roundness
to 100. Color is not important, we will be changing it
to a gradient fill in a moment.
3. Make sure the rounded rectangle is
selected and go to the Fill Floating Panel. From the
drop down list choose Bars. We want to add another color to
the fill so that we get a shiny 3D look. Click on the edit
button in the Fill Floating Panel. You should now see the
gradient sliders (below).
At the moment there is black and white.
Click on the Black slider handle 
and type the color #777777 into the text box and hit enter.
Now click and hold the gray (it was black) slider and move
it to the center. Now we need to add another color to the
gradient. You can add new handles by clicking on the gray
area between the gradient colors. The cursor changes to an
arrow with a plus sign.
Once you click on the gray
area, change the new slider handle to the color of #FFFFFF.
The gradient should look like this.
4. Select the rounded rectangle
and go to the Tools Floating Panel and select the Paint
Bucket Tool. Handles are now visible so that we can change
how the gradient is displayed. Manipulate the handles so that
they are position as they are below. Not nessaccary but I
added a drop shadow to the rounded rectangle. To do this go
to the Effects Floating Panel and select Drop Shadow.
The default settings will be fine.
5. Create a circle of
30 x 30 pixels with a Linear gradient of black
and white. Place it at which ever end, so as long as the black
color faces the outside of our bar.
6. Select the circle we just created.
Go to the main menu and select Modify> Convert to bitmap
(ctrl+alt+shft+Z). Now that our circle is a bitmap we need
to go into bitmap mode. To do this you can either double
click on the circle or select the circle and go to the main
menu and select Modify> Edit Bitmap.
Go to the Tools Floating Panel and select
the Marquee Tool. Now go to the Options Floating
Panel and set the settings to
Style: Normal
Edge: Feather and 20 as the value
Draw a square with the marquee tool
that includes half of our circle (left image) . Press the
Delete key twice. End result should look like the right image.
7. Highlight our circle again and copy
it (ctrl=C). And then paste it (ctrl+V). With the circle still
highlighted go to the main menu and select Modify> Transform>
Flip Horizontal. Now place this new circle on the other end
of our bar.
Note: If the circles appear to
dark you can go to the Layers Floating Panel and change
the transparency to a level that fits our bar. Select the
circle and move the slider up or down till you get a balanced
appearance.
You should end up with
something similar to the image below.
End of tutorial.
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main tutorials page.
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