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.

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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JC Rodriguez commented
it would be nice to be able to edit or make new bevels
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Jerome, Map Art in Classic 3D is still there and won't be removed, ever, I believe.
The decal graphics system for the new 3D and Material is a technology preview, the dedicated panel has a warning about it. Using a technology that is in an active development gives us users, a chance to get a better tool in the end, but also leads to a less streamlined experience while we are going there.
However, nothing has been removed recently... are you using the Beta, the Prerelease build, or the main release version?
And yeah, frustration sucks, especially when something gets broken and I can't do anything about it... so please provide some more details for the team to understand what is happening for you. -
Jerome Zaccone commented
You removed the Map Art feature in Adobe Illustrator 22; I tried the new 3D features and they DON'T WORK!
Every time I try it, it crashes. I pay for this service and you have no right making my job harder and causing an incredible amount of frustration. What the **** am i suppose to tell my clients? "Sorry, but Adobe changed the App?"
Fire the engineer who did this.
Fix and fix it right away.
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Akshay Varshney commented
@KAJAL NI: Can you please share the ai file with us which is creating the problem?
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KAJAL NI commented
How it'll fix?
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KAJAL NI commented
The operation cannot complete because of an unknown error. [CLR?] in illustrator 2022, when using the 3D and materials. how it will fix?
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Thomas Dinkleman commented
Would it be possible to add 3D extrusion from a point? So that the extrusion tapers into a specific point from both sides, giving text the look of "popping" out of something, rather than having these mathematically perfect edges.
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Ryan Doggendorf commented
I really, really miss the wireframe mode without applied textures — is this still present somewhere?
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Stephen commented
The 3D effects are very robust, but they can't do the one thing I really want. What I'd really like to be able to achieve is to keep the original vector art that I'm extruding, unchanged as though it were the front face of a 3D shape, and just be able to move the opposite face of the 3D object so that I can see the side faces of the object, without having to distort the front face in 3D space. Lots of more primitive vector software already has this feature, but the best way to accomplish it in Illustrator is a clumsy work-around solution involving the blend tool and an ungodly number of specified steps that results in a lot of cleanup work.
The 3D features are fine, I guess, but I will never use them nearly as often as I would make use of this much simpler vector extrude option, and the fact that these 3D effects can't be expanded into vector paths kind of negates the point of making them in a vector software like Illustrator in the first place.
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Andrea Piovesan commented
also be able to distort the symbols
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Andrea Piovesan commented
IT WOULD BE NICE TO BE ABLE TO INCREASE THE PERSPECTIVE DISTORTION AND USE MORE LIGHT POINTS, AS IN THE CLASSIC VERSION
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Benjamin commented
This is a real setback. Raster rendering options are nice, but Illustrator is a vector application first and foremost.
Previous functionality has been completely gutted. A tool, that has gone almost unchanged for almost 2 decades, has now been completely redesigned without leaving previous functionality intact.
Render as vector is non-functional. Expanding Appearance only results in a raster with some basic vector outlines.
While the new material editing and graphic/symbol/artwork layering is nice, it is no where near the same as the previous Map Art. Graphics are now rendered as raster projections and they don't seem to behave with document raster rules. No longer can I make pseudo 3d shapes by mixing invisible geometry with mapped artwork, accurately match surface proportions and then Expand out a vector output for later editing.
Lighting lacks previous output options and tweaks.
By all means, expand on the 3D options in Illustrator, but please consider a vector-first approach and not taking away features that have been a staple of Illustrator for decades.
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[Deleted User] commented
I really like the new 3D features. However I do miss the option to create wireframes out of the 3D objects which was an option available before the update.
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Dana Davis commented
When I apply the new 3d bevel effect to vector objects they turn into raster art and become very pixelated and I don't know why. I tried to search the forums for help but couldn't find an answer. Please advise! Thank you
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Jodi Koenig commented
When I try to render out vector graphics that are wrapped around a 3D surface the quality is genuinely horrible. I tried out different settings and none are able to make them better within the 3D tool. My document raster settings are set to high quality and I turned on high quality ray tracing. Why is this happening.
Not having the exported file is less of a problem than the poor rendering quality of graphic effects but these are both not fun. But straight up I do not understand why do the graphics get so pixelated and disgusting looking. This is a program that is widely used for graphic production. Do better adobe, I am sad.
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Mario, I'd say yes. Devs are are of this post, thanks. We had not a proper reply though, except for the major statement about the feature parity: 'new 3D is going to have all features the classic has, but better'. WIP
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Mario Arizmendi Duarte commented
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Jan Vork commented
Perspective / lens settings are missing.
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Chris commented
What I'm missing from the previous 3D tool:
- wireframe
- no shading
- perspective
- map art > scale to fit (mapping is really clumsy in the new version)
- expand appearance (render as vector is not working?)What I was expecting to see in the new 3D tool
- better vector render/expand appearance, so the graphics are not fragmented (see attachment - I'd like to see each circle to be expanded as 1 stroke or 2 fills (instead of 9 parts comprising fragments of each circle)
- expand wireframe and strokes as strokes, not as fill, so the circles in the attachment could actually be just 1 stroke object each
- splines (like C4D) to create bended tubes -
Chris commented
quite clumsy, even when I use a very simple graphic to map, it doesn't show up like expected on the 3D object
'Render as a vector' is not working. It used to be possible to map a vector and then have a vector output, which was really great. I used it t make stuff like the image attached.
Wireframe output is missing. 'No shading' is missing.