Using NinePatch in libGDX for Loading Bar

Question

I am trying to create images for a loading bar in libGDX. I came across the NinePatch class and I was hoping to use it for this loading bar, since stretching images with a plain Texture or Sprite looks terrible. Does anyone have any examples on how to use this class? I have done some searching around and I've gotten it to work but the image I use just comes through as slightly transparent and gray. It just doesn't look like the same image. The actual loading bar itself seems to work fine as I just set the width of the foreground loading image. Here is the code I am using so far...

// Class vars
private NinePatch loadingBackground;
private NinePatch loadingForeground;

...

// In my constructor
loadingBackground = new NinePatch(new Texture(Gdx.files.internal("loadingback.png")), 8, 8, 8, 8);
loadingForeground = new NinePatch(new Texture(Gdx.files.internal("loadingfore.png")), 8, 8, 8, 8);

...

// Drawing
batch.begin();
loadingBackground.draw(batch, x, y, width, height);
loadingForeground.draw(batch, x, y, loadingWidth, height);
batch.end();

I am open to any other suggestions on how I should implement this as well.

Answer 1

The left, top, right, bottom arguments are the amount of pixel of the segments. For example in: How to NinePatch

This: turns to this: The left, top, right, bottom are all 8 pixels.