How to Easily Make an Editable Chiseled Text Effect in Illustrator

Illustrator Text Effects

As you may already know, there are many diefferent ways to achieve particular effects in Illustrator. But with the latest updates, there is a feature inside Illustrator that is particularly useful to make chiseled text effects - One you can edit even after the effect is made! This can all be done in less than 5 minutes and without the need to draw paths, shapes, or even change the colors for the shadows and highlights. Today, I will show you how quickly you can make a chiseled text effect in Illustrator, keeping your text fully editable using only the new and improved 3D and Materials available in Illustrator.

Step 1

Open Illustrator and make a new file of any size you want. In this case, I will make mine at 1800 x 1200 px.

Step 2

Select the Type Tool (T) and, using any font at any size (bold fonts produces a better end result), type your text. I will be using CocoSharp Heavy at 450 pt with a gray color so you can better see the effect.

Step 3

With the text selected, go to Effect > 3D and Materials > Extrude & Bevel.

Step 4

In the "Extrude" effect inside the "Object" tab, set the Depth to 0 and under Rotation Presets, select "Front".

Step 5

Enable the "Bevel" option and apply the following settings.

Step 6

Lastly, select the "Lighting" tab and apply the following settings.

Step 7

Now that the effect is made, you can freely edit the text, change the color, font family, and size as you normally do in Illustrator.

A Final Note

Now that you know how to easily make a chiseled text effect in Illustrator, you can play with the Lighting and Bevel settings to make different effects just as quick we have made this one.