Improved 3D effects and Adobe Substance materials
We have introduced new and improved '3D and Materials' effects in 26.0 this year. These effects have been fully rebuilt using modern rendering technology and apart from being much more stable than classic 3D effects, they also allow you to:
* Apply and edit 3D effects conveniently through a non-blocking panel with real time preview.
* Texture artwork using Adobe Substance 3D materials that are highly adjustable. Choose from built-in materials in the panel or upload your own.
* Light up artwork with environment and directional light along with shadows.
* Create smooth and curvy extrusions using the new Inflate option.
* Rotate artwork more easily using the new on-canvas controls.
* Once you've setup your 3D object, render it using Ray tracing with adjustable quality options.
There are more features we're actively working on bringing to these effects. Please share your feedback and suggestions from your experience of using these new effects.

-
@Mike, a known issue.
It depends on the size of the shape extruded. If you make this path smaller, the 'tessellation' effect goes away.
So no, it’s not about 'simpler shapes' :) Assumptions are dangerous.
But I can be wrong too, actually, so please check this hypothesis and reply back if scaling arrows up lead to same problem, and if scaling the rectangle down eliminates it. -
Mike Stevens commented
For some reason the exture function doent like squares but will happy more complex shapes?
-
Lars commented
I need the original function that can easily exchange textures of each side.
It is probably a necessary function for packaging design. -
Bruno Thofer commented
A simple box extrusion looks really bad :/ there´s some glitch impossible to eliminate when the settings are set for a diffuse shadow
-
Jan Vork commented
Here is my example, requested by Egor Chistyakov | Admin:
-Create a text
-Create Outlines (cmd-shift-o)
-Choose 3D and Materials / Extrude & Bevel, keep the Default setting
-In the 3D and Material Panels, choose ‘Quick and ‘Expand as wireframes’
-Zoom in on curves of the created ‘wireframe’ and see how those of the extrusion don’t match those of the caps.
(pic 1)Do the same with Classic 3d and Object / Expand appearance, and see how the result perfectly matches. (pic 2)
-
Nicole Viviani commented
Add in shadow color options
-
Jan Vork commented
Please make it as accurate as the legacy effect.
The new 'improved' effects' results have a lot of abberations in the paths.
-
Jan Vork commented
Please make Expand work for these, just like for any other object in Illustrator.
-
Jan Vork commented
I would like to expand 3d Extrudes as they look, just like in older versions was possible.
Not 'as wireframes'. -
Brandon Hernandez commented
2 major nuances I noted as a first time user of both Illustrator and the potentially powerful 3D and Materials tool.
First: Resource heavy on CPU while GPU is "idle". It consumes 100% CPU on my AMD 5600x for approximately 3-5 seconds (sometimes more). And roughly 3Gbs on a single object with the Ominous Obsidian texture. Most of all only usage on RTX 3090 only reaches 20% at most. When rendering with raytracing to view the lighting tweaks every now and then, heavily slows down productivity.
Second: The lighting is everything when it comes to working with 3d objects. Trying to play around with the sliders is quite cumbersome when trying to figure out where the light is actually coming from. I would like to be able to have a 3D source light feature to be able to rotate it and perhaps add more light sources
-
L commented
3D effects cause severe pixelation on text and vectors, I have searched for hours online to find out why or get a solution, without any luck.
-
annelies185 commented
the right edge/left edge offset direction in 3D revolve does not work
-
Fayne commented
Although 'Render as Vector' was ticked, this rotated logo seems to contain Raster info still. See the grey blurring on the black lettering.
This differs from the vectorised result that used to be supplied.
I like the new additions, but I want and need the old process to continue to work as it used to. Please? -
Jim Kinney commented
Below is a video showing me trying to apply library textures from Capture vs. applying them from Substance in the Effects 3D Materials menu. Capture materials are not greyed out, indicating they are valid for use, but they don't apply to the 3D models in Illustrator. I am using the latest version of Ai.
-
Max commented
Excessively CPU/memory intensive, on a relatively high-end speedy machine! Developers should implement some internal caching. When I switch back and forth between views, I return back to things that were previously rendered a few seconds ago. These should have been cached! However, instead the system re-renders the same image, so I literally have to wait more than a minute to see the same thing that was rendered before.
Please. Just put the raster image in temporary memory. More intelligent caching please!
-
Dharma S. Rama commented
When you take an image such as a blended and expanded stroke and apply a 3d bevel the image model becomes duplicated and fractured as you increase perspective.
-
i redg commented
Honestly, this new 3D panel is a mess compare to the old one. I really hate this new tools. Render as vector don't work as expected. It's laggy as ****. And the render panel is unpredictable. Please, roll back. We are not beta tester. We are WORKING with your tools and PAYING for !!
-
Laetitia Gaulme commented
je teste l'effet 3D extrusion. Et sur cet effet, la fonction "décomposer l'aspect" pour pouvoir agir sur les différentes parties d'un lettrage en 3D par exemple ne fonctionne pas...
normal? -
Andrew B commented
This is less intuitive than it used to be, and it never was that good. If the wireframe ghost lines revolved to show you what you are doing it would be a great help.
-
lior yehuda commented
it was glossy the first time and right now I cant seem to get it back the way it was