Create a composition, add a text or shape layer, and enable 3D for the layer using the 3D switch option.
Last updated on
Aug 18, 2025
Learn how to create beveled and extruded text and shape layers in After Effects, including geometry and material options.
About beveled and extruded text and shape layers
In computer graphics, an extruded object is one that appears to be three-dimensional. This 3D appearance is most apparent when moving the object or moving a camera around the object. Bevel is the control over the edges of an extruded object.
To create beveled and extruded text and shape layers, activate the 3D switch for the layer while working in a composition set to a renderer that supports extrusion.
Note
Beveled and extruded text and shape layers require a renderer that supports extrusion, either Advanced 3D or Cinema 4D. Advanced 3D is the default renderer for 3D content in current versions of After Effects.
Depending on your hardware and the complexity of your composition, 3D objects can be difficult to manipulate. Use Draft 3D or Fast Previews mode to rough in and experiment with extruded text and shape layer animations before committing to a full-quality preview.
Advanced 3D renderer
Advanced 3D is the composition renderer that supports extruded and beveled text and shape layers, imported 3D models, environment lights for image-based lighting, and other 3D layers such as cameras and lights, all rendered in a unified space. After Effects selects Advanced 3D automatically when your composition needs it. For example, when you extrude a text or shape layer or add a 3D model.
To know which composition renderer is currently being used, check the 3D Renderer menu on the right side of the Composition panel toolbar. This menu appears only when there are 3D layers, including cameras and lights, in the composition.
- To change the composition renderer, select the button to open the renderer dropdown, then select Advanced 3D, Cinema 4D, or Classic 3D.
- To modify the current renderer's options, select Rendering Options from the dropdown.
Create beveled and extruded text and shape layers
For a beveled and extruded text or shape layer, do the following:
Adjust controls for bevel and extrusion by using the properties in the layer's Geometry Options section in the Timeline panel:
- Bevel Style: The form of the bevel. Options are None (default), Angular, Concave, and Convex.
- Bevel Depth: The size in pixels (horizontally and vertically) of the bevel.
- Hole Bevel Depth: The size of the bevel for the inner parts of a text character, such as the hole in an "O". It's expressed as a percentage of the Bevel Depth.
- Extrusion Depth: The pixel thickness of the extrusion. The side (extruded) surface is perpendicular to the front surface.
These 3D objects are based on the geometry of swept surfaces (where a 2D shape can move along a specified path), which is a departure from the pixel-based text and shapes used elsewhere in After Effects. As such, masking, effects, and track mattes do not make sense when applied to geometry. The geometrical properties of text and shapes are preserved, so character styles like kerning, font size, and subscript are supported.
Beveled and extruded vector artwork
You can create a shape layer from vector art in two ways:
- Import the artwork as a composition (or paste it directly from Illustrator), which brings it in as editable shape layers immediately.
- Import it as footage, use Create Shapes from Vector Layer to convert it, and once you have a shape layer, you can bevel and extrude it.
Bending a footage layer
Your 3D footage and nested composition layers have the following geometry options for curving them around a vertical axis:
- Curvature: The amount of bend (as a percentage). It defaults to 0% (no bend), but can go between -100% and 100% to simulate video walls or the flapping of wings.
- Segments: The smoothness of or number of facets in the bend, with a lower number producing a coarser look with wider facets.
Masks and effects can be applied, but these types of layers cannot be beveled or extruded as beveling and extruding are limited to text and shape layers. Also, masks and effects are ignored on collapsed 3D composition layers.
Material options
Materials are used on the surfaces of 3D objects, and material options are the properties of those surfaces that dictate how the objects interact with light. After Effects has several material options, properties, and ways to apply materials to extruded text and shape layers.
Advanced 3D and Cinema 4D (shared)
| Controls | Functions |
| Casts Shadows | Determines whether the layer casts a shadow onto other layers in the scene. |
| Accepts Shadows | Determines whether the layer receives shadows cast by other layers. |
| Accepts Lights | Determines whether the layer responds to scene lighting. |
| Shadow Color | Sets the color of shadows cast by the layer. |
| Ambient | Controls the amount of ambient light applied to the layer. |
| Diffuse | Controls the layer's base color response to light. Set to 100% to match its 2D appearance. |
| Specular Intensity | Controls the strength of specular highlights on the surface. |
| Specular Shininess | Controls how sharp or spread out specular highlights appear. At low values, the surface looks rough and matte, while at high values it looks smooth and shiny. |
| Metal | Controls how much the surface tints reflected specular light with its own color. |
Cinema 4D only
| Controls | Functions |
| Appears in Reflections | Determines whether the layer shows up in other reflective layers' reflections. |
| Reflection Intensity | Controls how strongly other reflective objects and the environment map appear on the surface. |
| Reflection Sharpness | Controls how sharp or blurry reflections appear on the surface. |
| Reflection Rolloff | Controls how much reflections intensify at glancing viewing angles (the Fresnel effect). |
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