[Tex/LaTex] Customized ‘gradient’ background in Beamer

Question

I found the following slide made using LaTeX, and I'd like to replicate it:

Specifically, how can I replicate the background? It looks like a transition from a silvery color, to white and gradually back to the original color. I'd also like to disable themes somehow, and just write directly onto the slides.

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Note: obviously the LaTeX code is not available/published. In addition, the background should not cover the entire slide, but have borders as shown in the image.

Answer 1

You can use the background canvas template to add a shading path with a gray shade on top and on the bottom and white on the middle; something like this (adjust the settings according to your needs):

\documentclass{beamer}
\usepackage{tikz}

\setbeamertemplate{background canvas}{%
\begin{tikzpicture}[remember picture,overlay]
\shade[top color=gray!85,bottom color=gray!85,middle color=white]
  ([shift={(0.5cm,-0.5cm)}]current page.north west)
     rectangle
  ([shift={(-0.5cm,0.5cm)}]current page.south east);
\end{tikzpicture}%     
}
\setbeamertemplate{navigation symbols}{}

\begin{document}

\begin{frame}
test
\end{frame}

\end{document}