3D Character Design in Illustrator! | Turn Your 2D Designs into 3D!

🎁 Download the FREE project files here!
Turn your 2D art into 3D! Learn how easy it is to turn 2D vector art into 3D character designs in Illustrator! Learn how to map 2D textures onto your 3D models in Illustrator and discover how to export your 3D character to other 3D applications like Adobe Stager, Blender or Cinema 4D! 3D is a super important skill to learn and Illustrator makes it easy for any 2D artist to enter the world of 3D.

🤩 Cinema 4D Basecamp

00:00 Intro
00:54 Prepping your Illustrator File
01:15 Ways to turn your Illustrator file into a 3D object
03:19 3D Inflate options
04:40 Intro to materials & Substance Materials
07:35 Adjusting lighting
11:10 Creating Graphic Style presets for materials
15:23 Adding 3D materials for eyes
19:17 Adding 2D textures to your 3D object
23:10 Exporting Illustrator File to Image
23:50 Exporting 3D object as OBJ
26:00 Importing 3D object to Cinema 4D
27:10 Final Thoughts on 3D Illustrator Workflows

[MermanSeas]

Thanks so much I recently took several tutorials on YouTube to learn illustrator 3D and this was by far the best one. However I'm sad to learn that to now get that proper isometric view, you need to transfer it to another programme. At least I get to watch more of your great vids on this other software! Thanks again!!👌

[storeydigitalart]

I have been using these tools since its inception and have been producing many new designs for my Etsy shop Christmas cards. You can now export the entire workspace to Adobe Dimension in the 2023 release....You could not do this before ...only separately as you state in your video. There are also two new tools in the INFLATE mode...twist and taper....start experimenting with those and maybe another tutorial on how to use them. Your tutorial is great for beginners and answered a few questions that I have not been able to find, even on the Adobe sites...Well done!

[cardboardpolitician]

Great video. I wasn’t aware of how far Illustrator has come.

[fabiorazuri]

Amazing, I really appreciate this tutorial, thanks too much

[LeoGang]

You the man! i took your cinema 4D course 🙌

[NineOneOneFx]

24:00 ... PSA: No need to do all of that when exporting the 3D objects. You just have to select all the 3D elements from the canvas and drop it into the Asset Export panel. From there you just select all the objects, pick the format and export all at once. Hope this info helps someone.

[gaston.]

Impressive! No idea this existed. Thanks for sharing

[angelicakluh]

Wow, no idea this existed. 😍 Question: Can I export it directly to Ae and animate it ? Thanks !

[salvadorlopez]

Great content! If it wasn't for you I would never known about this!

[JimmyFlame]

Subscribed!! Thanks for these amazing tips!

[Chashalah]

Thank you for your informative and clear tutorial on 3-D in Illustrator! I never knew about this function. I am wondering, after you turned all the parts of your little character into 3-D, why couldn't you group all the parts into one whole group and export them all together? What is stopping this procedure from allowing that? Also, can this be combined with the perspective tool into an entire scene? Can you create an interior room with furniture, walls, floor, and characters in Illustrator using perspective plus the tools you just taught? Thanks again.

[MCKIBILLO]

I was down with this...until it came to the export. Really hoping Adobe can bridge that last gap and make this a viable way of creating functional 3D assets.

[Deckard]

I always wanted to learn 3d design, particularly C4D but it just looks too overwhelming with a steep learning curve... and as I don't get too much time away from client projects to invest in seriously learning a new app I'm glad that Illustrator has some nice 'quick and dirty' 3d effects to try out :)

[lauragalvez]

hey is there a way to scale the final shape? im having trouble with it, the design loses it shape when i change the size

[sofilove...]

Omg your background 😍 cutters broh...I need all...

[xlmxonu]

hi is there a way that this 3d effect can be imported in adobe animate as vector?thanks

[richochet]

Thanks! Anyway for the head to cast shadows on the body?

[HPoppington]

This blew my mind a bit. Also, have you considered halloweening as Russell Brand?

[JoeHTX]

Thank you for the tutorial! A question: Can't you just group them all together so they will export as one object? Or is that even possible?

[asmr.Beehere]

I was trying to make a packaging box thats in square pyramid I couldnt =(