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To stay informed about the temperature in our pipes we install a temperature gauge. Draw a circle, set the fill color to 10% Black, change the outline color to 40% Black, and change the outline Width to 0,5 pt. Apply a Flat, Outer bevel this circle. Next we’ll make the dial to display the temperature (green = acceptable, red = trouble!) Draw a circle. Set the fill to none and set the outline Width to 0pt. Clone this circle (Ctrl k) and resize it the way shown in the next picture. Select both circles and Arrange – Combine Shapes – Subtract Shapes. Draw a rectangle over the lower 1/2 of the combined shape. Select both and Arrange – Combine Shapes - Subtract Shapes. Resize this shape a little horizontally, so that it looks more like an ellipse rather than of a half circle. Select the shape we just created. Change to the Fill Tool (F5). Set the Fill Type to Elliptical. Two fill path arrows will appear, one pointing upwards, and the other pointing to the right. In the middle of the horizontal arrow, double-click to insert another color point. This adds a start, center, and end point. Select the center point of the fill. From the on-screen palette choose green. Select the point we just added in the middle and choose orange or yellow. Select either of the end points (at the ends of the arrows) and choose red. The colors are set. To get a realistic result position the arrows and lines so that they relate with the green/red scale. Rotate the fill path arrows until you get a good transition from green to yellow to red. See the finished picture to get an idea of which way you should move and rotate the points. The last thing is to add a bit of text, a hand and a little knob on top of it. Rotate the dials as you wish and group all the parts together. If you are using more than one of these displays, change the rotation of the dials on each part so the gauges don’t all look alike.
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The Xara Xone Guest Tutorials ©2006 Gary W. Priester All rights reserved
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