title: Java 2D Shading / Filling
body: <p>I have created a "blob" from Bezier curves (screenshot below) and would now like to shade it in such a way that it appears pseudo-3D, with darker shading on all "left" edges and lighter on all "right" edges, and perhaps pure white "light spots" on the surface itself.  For example: I'd be interested in how to achieve the shading used in <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLnl9xmH8kg" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this video</a>.</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>Can anyone recommend a good way to achieve this?  I am guessing that standard Graphics2D.fill and setPaint methods may not be sophisticated enough.</li>
  <li>Also, can anyone recommend some good resources (preferrably free / online) for learning more on this?</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p><strong>EDIT</strong></p>
  
  <p>Some additional information: To achieve the flat fill effect below I'm creating an <code>Area</code> object and am adding the individual <code>Ellipse2D</code> <code>Shape</code>s to it using <code>add(new Area(ellipse))</code> and then finally adding the central polygon area to avoid leaving a white space in the middle.</p>
  
  <p><a href="http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/bc8081cbf2.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer">alt text http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/bc8081cbf2.png</a></p>