3D

3D and Materials turns a flat shape into a solid you can turn, light and give a surface to, without ever leaving your vector artwork behind. It is a live effect: the solid is drawn from the path underneath, and that path stays fully editable, so you can change the outline, the colour or the type at any time and the 3D rebuilds around it.

Opening the effect

Select an object first, then choose an object type from Effect › 3D and Materials: Plane, Extrude & Bevel, Revolve or Inflate. Each one adds the effect and opens the 3D and Materials panel, where the rest of the controls live. The same panel opens on its own from Window › 3D and Materials or from Effect › 3D and Materials › 3D and Materials Panel.

The panel needs something selected before it can do anything; with nothing selected it says so and greys its controls. Once an object has the effect, the four object-type buttons run across the top of the panel, so you can switch a shape from an extrude to a revolve in one click and keep the rotation and lighting you already set.

Because it is an effect and not a conversion, you can drop it onto almost anything a path can hold: a shape, a group, an outline or live type. Editing the source, for example retyping a word or nudging an anchor, re-runs the effect on the new artwork.

The four object types

The object type decides how the flat shape is read as a solid. Pick the one that matches the form you are after.

Plane

Plane leaves the artwork flat and places it as a card in 3D space, so all it does is let you turn and tip it. There is no depth to set. Reach for it when you want a piece of flat art to sit at an angle, such as a label lying back on a surface or a badge tilted to catch the light, without giving it any thickness.

Extrude and Bevel

Extrude pushes the shape straight back to give it thickness, turning an outline into a solid block. A bevel rounds or cuts the front and back edges so they are not left sharp. Holes are kept: a compound path such as a ring or a letter with a counter stays hollow all the way through. This is the type to use for lettering, logos, icons and badges that should read as raised or carved.

Revolve

Revolve sweeps the shape around its left edge, the way a profile spun on a lathe traces out a solid. Draw half of a symmetrical object, a glass, a bottle, a bowl, a chess piece, and revolve it into the round. The sweep angle can be less than a full turn to leave a cutaway that shows the inside.

Inflate

Inflate puffs the shape outward, as if it were a cushion filled with air, giving it a soft rounded face instead of a flat one. Use it for soft buttons, pillowed badges, sweets and rounded stickers where you want swell rather than a hard extruded edge.

Depth, bevel and steps

The Object section holds the fields that shape the solid. Which ones appear depends on the object type, so the panel only ever shows the fields that do something for the type in hand.

Plane has none of these: it has no thickness to describe. If a curved revolve or a rounded bevel looks too angular, raise the steps; if you want a low-polygon, faceted look on purpose, lower them.

Turning the object

The Rotation section sets how the object faces you. The quickest way is the preview pad: drag across it to spin the object left and right, and drag up and down to tip it forward and back. For exact angles, the X, Y and Z fields turn the object around each axis, each from -180° to 180°.

The rotation menu holds ready-made viewpoints, so you can drop the object straight into a standard view rather than dialling one in:

Off-Axis Front, Back, Left, Right, Top, Bottom

Three-quarter views that show one main face along with a little of the top or side. A good default for a solid that should look like a solid.

Isometric Left, Right, Top, Bottom

True isometric views, where the three axes are foreshortened equally and lines stay parallel. Suits technical and game-style artwork that must line up.

Front, Back, Left, Right, Top, Bottom

The six straight-on views, looking square at one face. Handy for checking the shape or for a flat, head-on presentation.

Picking a preset fills in the X, Y and Z fields; changing any of them by hand shows the menu as Custom Rotation. The Perspective field, from 0° to 160°, controls how strongly the object recedes: at zero the sides stay parallel, and as you raise it the far edges pull in towards a vanishing point, the way a real object seen up close appears to taper. Add a little perspective for a lifelike three-quarter view, or leave it at zero to keep an isometric or flat-on setup exact.

Lighting

The Lighting section decides where the light comes from and how hard it is, which is what makes the surface read as raised, carved or rounded. A lighting menu offers four starting points, Standard, Diffuse, Top Left and Right, and any change to the fields below shows it as Custom Lighting.

Intensity

The strength of the main light, as a percentage. Higher makes the lit faces brighter and the highlights stronger.

Ambient

A fill light that lifts the whole object, as a percentage, so the shadowed faces do not fall to black. Raise it for a softer, more even look; lower it for deeper contrast.

Rotation

Where the light sits around the object, from -180° to 180°, which moves the highlight and the shadow to the other side.

Height

How high the light is above the object, from 0° (level with it, for long raking shadows) to 90° (straight overhead, for even light).

Diffuse gives a soft, low-contrast finish; Top Left and Right throw the light from one side for a more dramatic, sculpted look. Start from whichever preset is closest, then adjust the four fields to taste.

Materials

Three material buttons set how the surface catches the light: Plastic, Matte and Metal. Plastic gives a soft shine with a clear highlight, the usual choice for a friendly, moulded look. Matte removes the shine for a flat, even finish, which reads as paper, clay or a printed surface. Metal gives a harder, higher-contrast sheen, for chrome, gold and other polished metals. The material works together with the lighting, so a change to one is worth checking against the other.

Keeping it live, and expanding

Everything above is stored as one live effect on the object, listed in the Appearance panel (⇧F6) with an fx badge above the object's fills and strokes. Click that entry to reopen the 3D and Materials panel, or remove it there to take the object back to flat. Inside the panel, Remove 3D strips the effect off the selection.

While the effect is live the artwork underneath stays a plain, editable path, which is what lets you keep tuning the shape, the colour and the type. When the look is settled and you want the result as ordinary vector artwork, for example to edit the individual faces or to hand the file on, use Expand as Vector in the panel (the same as Object › Expand Appearance). That bakes the solid down into paths and ends its life as an effect, so expand a copy if you might still want to change the depth or the angle later.