Easily Make an Inflated Text Effect in Illustrator

Illustrator Text Effects

You've probably seen some amazing and eye-catching 3D text effects that seem very time consuming and complicated to make (and often, they are). But there are also methods to make those 3D text effects easily and in less than 5 minutes without using any complicated 3D software. Today, I will show you how easily you can make a 3D Inflated text effect in Illustrator, in less than 5 minutes and with the ability to change the text, color, and size even after the effect is completed.

Step 1

Open Illustrator and make a new file at any size you want. In this case, I will make mine at 900 x 900 px.

Step 2

Select the Rectangle Tool (M) and draw a rectangle covering your whole artboard using any color you want. In this case, I will be using black.

Step 3

Select the Type Tool (T) and using any font and any color, type your text. Here I will be using the "Courage" font at 240pt.

Step 4

With the text selected go to Effect > 3D and Materials > Inflate and apply the following values.

Step 5

Click on the "Materials" tab and apply the following settings.

Step 6

Next, click on the "Lighting" tab and set the following values.

Step 7

Lastly, click on the down arrow icon of the Render Settings option, set the following options and click the Render button.

A final tip

As we kept the text fully editable, you can now easily change the text color in the Swatches Panel, the typeface, size, and even the text it self without having to make the whole process again.