Create 3D objects
3D effects enable you to create three-dimensional (3D) objects from two-dimensional (2D) artwork. You can control the appearance of 3D objects with lighting, shading, rotation, and other properties. You can also map artwork onto each surface of a 3D object.
There are two ways to create a 3D object: by extruding or revolving. In addition, you can also rotate a 2D or 3D object in three dimensions. To apply or modify 3D effects for an existing 3D object, select the object and then double-click the effect in the Appearance panel.
For more information about working with 3D objects in Illustrator, see the 3D tutorials at www.adobe.com/go/learn_ai_tutorials_3d_en. For a video on creating 3D objects, see www.adobe.com/go/vid0053.
See also
Create a 3D object by extruding
Extruding extends a 2D object along the object’s z axis to add depth to the object. For example, if you extrude a 2D ellipse, it becomes a cylinder.
- Click OK.
Extruded object without a beveled edge (left) compared to object with Bevel Extent In (middle) and with Bevel Extent Out (right)
Create a 3D object by revolving
Revolving sweeps a path or profile in a circular direction around the global y axis (revolve axis) to create a 3D object. Because the revolve axis is vertically fixed, the open or closed path that you revolve typically needs to depict half of the desired 3D object’s profile in a vertical and front-facing position; you can then rotate the 3D object’s position in the effect’s dialog box.
- Select the object. Note: Applying the 3D Revolve effect to one or more objects simultaneously revolves each object around its own axis. Each object resides in its own 3D space and can’t intersect other 3D objects. Applying the Revolve effect to a targeted group or layer, on the other hand, revolves the objects around a single axis.
Revolving a filled path with no stroke is much
faster than revolving a stroked path.
Set options
Set 3D rotation position options
Do any of the following:Choose a preset position from the Position menu.
For unconstrained rotation, drag a track cube face. The front of the object is represented by the track cube’s blue face, the object’s top and bottom faces are light gray, the sides are medium gray, and the back face is dark gray.
To constrain the rotation along a global axis, hold down Shift while dragging horizontally (global y axis) or vertically (global x axis). To rotate the object around the global z axis, drag in the blue band that surrounds the track cube.
To constrain the rotation around an object axis, drag an edge on the track cube. The pointer changes to a double-sided arrow
, and
the cube edge changes color to identify the axis around which the
object will rotate. Red edges represent the object’s x axis,
green edges represent the object’s y axis, and blue edges
represent the object’s z axis.Enter values between –180 and 180 in the horizontal (x) axis
, vertical
(y) axis 
, and
depth (z) axis 
text
boxes.To adjust the perspective, enter a value between 0 and 160 in the Perspective text box. A smaller angle is similar to a telephoto camera lens; a larger lens angle is similar to a wide-angle camera lens.
Extrude & Bevel options
- Extrude Depth
- Sets the depth of the object, using a value between 0 and 2000.
- Cap
- Specifies whether the object appears solid (Revolve Cap On
) or
hollow (Revolve Cap Off 
). - Bevel
- Applies the type of beveled edge you choose along the depth (z axis) of the object.
- Height
- Sets the height between 1 and 100. Bevel heights that are too large for an object may cause the object to self-intersect and produce unexpected results.
- Bevel Extent Out
- Adds the bevel to the object’s original shape.
- Bevel Extent In
- Carves the bevel out of the object’s original shape.
Extruded object with cap (top left) compared to no cap (top right); object without a beveled edge (bottom left) compared to object with a beveled edge (bottom right)
Revolve options
- Angle
- Sets the number of degrees to revolve the path, between 0 and 360.
- Cap
- Specifies whether the object appears solid (Revolve Cap On ) or
hollow (Revolve Cap Off ).
- Offset
- Adds distance between the revolve axis and the path, to create a ring-shaped object, for instance. You can enter a value between 0 and 1000.
- From
- Sets the axis around which the object revolves, either the Left Edge or Right Edge.
Surface shading options
- Surface
- Lets you choose options for the shading surfaces:
- Wireframe
- Outlines the contours of the object’s geometry and makes each surface transparent.
- No Shading
- Adds no new surface properties to the object. The 3D object has the same color as the original 2D object.
- Diffuse Shading
- Makes the object reflect light in a soft, diffuse pattern.
- Plastic Shading
- Makes the object reflect light as if it were made of a shiny,
high-gloss material.Note: Depending on what option you choose, different lighting options are available. If the object only uses the 3D Rotate effect, the only Surface choices available are Diffuse Shading or No Shading.
- Light Intensity
- Controls the light intensity between 0% and 100%.
- Ambient Light
- Controls the global lighting, which changes the brightness of all the object’s surfaces uniformly. Enter a value between 0% and 100%.
- Highlight Intensity
- Controls how much the object reflects light, with values ranging from 0% to 100%. Lower values produce a matte surface, and higher values create a shinier-looking surface.
- Highlight Size
- Controls the size of the highlight from large (100%) to small (0%).
- Blend Steps
- Controls how smoothly the shading appears across the object’s surfaces. Enter a value between 1 and 256. Higher numbers produce smoother shades and more paths than lower numbers.
- Draw Hidden Faces
- Displays the object’s hidden backfaces. The backfaces are visible
if the object is transparent, or if the object is expanded and then
pulled apart.Note: If your object has transparency and you want the hidden backfaces to display through the transparent front faces, apply the Object > Group command to the object before you apply the 3D effect.
- Preserve Spot Color (Extrude & Bevel effect, Revolve effect, and Rotate effect)
- Lets you preserve spot colors in the object. Spot colors
can’t be preserved if you chose Custom for the Shading Color option.
Examples of different surface shading choices- A.
- Wireframe
- B.
- No shading
- C.
- Diffuse shading
- D.
- Plastic shading
Lighting options
- Light
- Defines where the light is. Drag the light to where you want it on the sphere.
- Move Light Back button
- Moves the selected light behind the object.
- Move Light Front button
- Moves the selected light in front of the object.
- New Light button
- Adds a light. By default, new lights appear in the front center of the sphere.
- Delete Light button
- Deletes the selected light.Note: By default, 3D Effects assigns one light to an object. You can add and delete lights, but the object must always have at least one light.
- Light Intensity
- Changes the selected light’s intensity between 0% and 100%.
- Shading Color
- Controls the object’s shading color, depending on the command you
choose:
- None
- Adds no color to the shading.
- Custom
- Lets you choose a custom color. If you choose this option, click the Shade Color box to select a color in the Color Picker. Spot colors are changed to process colors.
- Black Overprint
- Avoids process colors if you’re using a spot color workflow. The object is shaded by overprinting shades of black on top of the object’s fill color. To view the shading, choose View >Overprint Preview.
- Preserve Spot Color
- Lets you preserve spot colors in the object. Spot colors can’t
be preserved if you chose Custom for the Shading Color option.
Lighting Sphere- A.
- Selected light in front
- B.
- Move selected light to back or front button
- C.
- New light button
- D.
- Delete light button
Add a custom bevel path
- Choose Window > Symbols, and do one of the
following to make the path a symbol:
Drag the path to the Symbols panel.
With the path selected, click the New Symbol button
in
the Symbols panel or choose New Symbol from the panel menu.
Map artwork to a 3D object
Every 3D object is composed of multiple surfaces. For example, an extruded square becomes a cube that is made of six surfaces: the front and back faces, and the four side faces. You can map 2D artwork to each surface on a 3D object. For example, you might want to map a label or text onto a bottle-shaped object or simply add different textures to each side of an object.
- A.
- Symbol artwork
- B.
- Symbol artwork
- C.
- A and B mapped to 3D object
You can only map 2D artwork that’s stored in the Symbols panel to a 3D object. Symbols can be any Illustrator art object, including paths, compound paths, text, raster images, mesh objects, and groups of objects.
When mapping 3D objects, consider the following:
Because the Map Art feature uses symbols for mapping, you can edit a symbol instance and then automatically update all surfaces that are mapped with it.
You can interact with the symbol in the Map Art dialog box with normal bounding box controls to move, scale, or rotate the object.
The 3D effect remembers each mapped surface on an object as a number. If you edit the 3D object or apply the same effect to a new object, there may be fewer or more sides than the original. If there are fewer surfaces than the number of surfaces defined for the original mapping, the extra artwork will be ignored.
Because a symbol’s position is relative to the center of an object surface, if the geometry of the surface changes, then the symbol will be remapped relative to the new center of the object.
You can map artwork to objects that use the Extrude & Bevel or Revolve effect, but you can’t map artwork to objects that only use the Rotate effect.
- To select which object surface you want to map, click
the first
, previous 
, next 
, and
last 
surface
arrow buttons, or enter a surface number in the text box. A light gray color mark appears on the surfaces that are currently visible. A dark gray color mark appears on the surfaces that are hidden by the object’s current position. When a surface is selected in the dialog box, the selected surface is outlined in red in the document window.
