Making a rounded pole-like bar is simple in Paint Shop Pro 6. PSP6 Has inner and outer bevels with lots of separate settings that give good control over the finished product. Another nice feature is that if you get a great effect with a lot of fiddling and tweaking, you can save that effect so that next time you can reproduce it without searching for all the little pieces of paper you wrote your settings down on ;-)
Select New Image/Resolution=72/Width=600/Height=150/Pixels/Pixels-inch/Background Color=Your choice/Image type=16.7 million colors.
Select the Line tool. Line type=Single line/Style=Stroked/Width=15/Antialias and Close Path checked. Go to the next panel (where the three corner lines are) and under Cap, choose Rounded
End cap (the other settings don't pertain to unvectored lines). Any foreground color will do, as long as it's not the same as the background color. Start the line at the left side of the image box; hold the left mouse down while you pull the line to the length you want (make sure the line is straight), then release. You will know the line is straight when there are no kinks in it. Use the Magic Wand to select the line (make sure feather is at 0). Remember to keep your line selected at all times once you have drawn it. You should see the "marching ants" around it.
(optional step) If you know how to use filters and have Filter Factory A installed, you might like to use a gradient fill for a more natural look. Pick up the Flood Fill Tool and select Linear Gradient. Assuming that your foreground color is the darker one (if not, flip them), your settings will be Blend Mode normal, paper texture none and match mode none. Opacity should be 100, tolerance 40 (my system is stuck on that number-it seems to work). Go to the next panel (marked with black-gray white stripe) and select Foreground-Background as your gradient. Repeats should be none, Angle=265. Now go to image, Plug-in Filters/Filter Factory A/Mirror Mirror. Accept the given settings. The lighter section will be flipped into the center, with the darker color on the top and sides.
Bar is still selected; choose Image/Effects/Outer Bevel. There are a lot of settings on this one.
Left Panel: for Bevel, choose the one in the lower left corner; for Width , type in 2.
Right Panel: Color=white; Angle=85; Intensity=45; Elevation=37.
Your next step depends on what you're going to do with the bar at this point. You can leave the ends as they are if you're going to put knobs or other graphics on each end. If not, you should (still with marching ants around the bar) use the clone tool to cover up the ends. Notice the section outlined above by the square. Position the tool, size set at about 20, close to where the color starts getting lighter. Right click to copy the section you're on, then slide the clone tool completely over the section you want to cover and left click. Make sure you're still in the same horizontal line. Do the same thing at the other end.
You're all done except for saving your settings and adding decorations to your bar. To save your setting, Click on Save As, and type in a name for it; I just call mine rounded bar. Now that you've saved the basic setting, you can play around with the controls and try different colors and bevels. You can pour patterns into the bar instead of colors for some interesting effects. I poured wood into the bar at the top to make that pole; I used a gold pattern for the upright pole on the sidebar.
To add graphics to the bar, add a layer first. When you add your tubes or pictures, you can recolor, resize and move them around without affecting the bar. When the project is done, merge the layers and save. If you need more space to add graphics, choose add borders, make sure your background color is still the same as your background, and uncheck symmetrical. Add borders on whichever side you need.
Created: November 15, 1999. Updated: September 3, 2001
