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.
AdminAkshaya Saxena
(Admin, Adobe Illustrator)
shared this idea
There are now several separate requests made, based on the feedback in this thread:
1. Regarding adjustable color and opacity for 3D shadows:
https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/47054086
2. Regarding presets for each tab in 3D and Materials panels: Object, Materials, Lighting:
http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/47350001
All those who commented on the topic until October 16, 2023, are already added as voters there. If this is something you want to have for 3D and Materials in Illustrator — please upvote it. If possible — create new requests and bug reports about 3D, rather than commenting here inside. This will help the team to better prioritize efforts on making the feature better. As always — thanks for the feedback! It helps.
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[Deleted User]
commented
Hi there.
First play inside.
Speed is not there. On a simple letter on revolution, redraw time is problematic. Not a bad machine here : MacBook Pro (16 pouces, 2019), 2,3 GHz Intel Core i9 8 cœurs 32 Go 2667 MHz DDR4, AMD Radeon Pro 5600M 8 Go or Intel UHD Graphics 630 1536 Mo
revolution degrees are noted percent (360% instead of 360°)
I found the quality inside the panel low/med/high when I started looking at the document raster effects and lower it down from 300dpi to 72 dpi with no result.
Rotation cursors are dropdowns on the rotation panel while the revolution cursor is a slider + input field. I like slider better :)
So far I was only able to use 1 light.
i'd appreciate an access to the material panel from within the 3D panel
Of course models don't interact with each other (reflexions, shadows…), this is not dimension :)
Materials properties is a modal, when i'd rather use it as a panel since we'd be tweaking a lot of options…
Expand appeareance leads to a transparent pixel image, ok. Of course I'll miss the classic vector 3D part of it.
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Ben Thomas
commented
3D effects are one of the most popular effects used in Illustrator. While it generally has served users well, it hasn't been updated in years which makes it feel limited and outdated in today's 3D design status quo. We are also aware of the stability and rendering issues that have marred the experience of using this effect.
Hence we're overhauling 3D effects in Illustrator, starting this year with the following goals:
- Reliability - Provide a more stable and performant working experience.
- Fidelity - Produce beautiful, high quality results.
- Creativity - Provide new features that expand creative possibilities
- Usability - Make it easier to explore and work with 3D effects
- Composition - Create consistent compositions containing multiple 3D and 2D objects
- Interoperability - Take 3D artwork from Illustrator to edit in other 3D software and vice-versaAs initial steps, we are introducing a new ‘3D and Materials’ effect that’s been fully rebuilt using modern rendering technology. This new effect will exist in addition to the existing 3D effect for now, and we plan to update its functionality over a few Beta releases this year.
In its first iteration, the effect will allow users to:
1. Edit 3D effects conveniently through a non-blocking panel UI with live preview. (Access from Effects > 3D > Extrude)
2. Texture artwork with over 50 Adobe Substance materials that are infinitely adjustable. (Access from Window > Materials)
3. Light up artwork with environment and directional lights that can now also produce shadows. (Available in the Lighting tab)
4. Create smooth and curvy extrusions using the new “Inflate” bevel type. (Available in the Geometry tab under Bevel)
5. Rotate artwork more easily using the new on-canvas controls.
We would love to get your feedback on these Beta releases that will help us shape this feature into a great experience before it comes to Illustrator later this year. Please watch this thread for details on upcoming Beta releases for the new 3D effect.