How to Make a Live 3D Stroke Text Effect in Illustrator

Illustrator Text Effects

Creating a 3D text effect can add a striking and dynamic look to your designs, making them stand out in any visual project. Whether you're working on a logo, a poster, or any branding material, this effect adds depth and movement to otherwise flat text. Of course, there are many different ways to create a 3D stroke text effect, but today, I will show you a very simple, non-destructive method that makes it easy to adjust colors, stroke widths, and even the depth of the 3D effect without needing to start from scratch.

Step 1

Open Illustrator and make a new file at any size you want. In this case I will make mine at 1800 x 1200 px using a gray background for you to better see the effect.

Step 2

Select the Type Tool (T) and type your text using any font you wish. I will be using "Marshmallow" at 160pt.

Step 3

In the toolbar, set the fill to "none".

Step 4

Go to Window > Appearance.

Step 5

Click on the "Add New Fill" icon and set the fill to any color you like. In this case, I will set mine to #cf4239.

Step 6

Drag the "Stroke" effect layer below the "Fill" layer.

Step 7

Set the stroke Weight to 8 pt and any color you want. In this case, I will set mine to #262424.

Step 8

With the Stroke layer selected, click on the "Add New Effect" icon and from the dropdown menu select "Distort & Transform > Transform".

Step 9

In the Transform window apply the following settings and click OK.

Step 10

With the Stroke effect layer selected, click on the "Duplicate Selected Item" icon to make another Stroke instance.

Step 11

Lastly, give the copied stroke another color and set the stroke Weight to about 22 pt.

Some Final Notes:

Now that you know how easy it is to make a fully editable 3D Stroke Text Effect in Illustrator, you can change the text, font, and size as you normally would. If you want to change the fill and stroke colors, simply adjust them in the Appearance Panel, as shown in the following examples.