Creating a 3D gold text effect

Question

Hi all,I’ve been trying for over a year to get a certain exact graphic effect for a book title. I’ve tried using the big AI engines (ugh!) and trying to follow along 50-step tutorials that never work. In the hands of a skilled designer this is probably a 10 minute job.What I am trying to achieve is to take the text of my book’s secondary title. Give it a 3D shimmering gold effect, then overlay an embossed black front to it. For anybody who’s ever seen the TV Show “The Amazing Race,” the show’s main title uses this effect and I fell it love with it 20 years ago, and I’d like to re-create it, only without the tilted perspective. How can I create this? Or failing that, is there anywhere or any site I can hire to do this for me? Please and thank you.

CORCTON34033231 · Answer

This is absolutely a native Illustrator job — no AI needed, and you're right that it's about a 10-minute task once you know the right panel:

1. Set your subtitle in a bold font and fill it with a gold gradient.

2. With the text selected, go to Effect > 3D and Materials > 3D (Classic) > Extrude & Bevel (Classic). Add a bevel and some depth, keep the rotation at 0 (no tilt), and under Surface choose Plastic Shading — that gives the metallic gold shimmer. Play with the lighting to get the gleam you want.

3. For the black embossed front: duplicate the text, remove the 3D effect from the copy (via the Appearance panel), fill it solid black, and align it exactly over the front face of the 3D text. That creates the embossed black overlay.

Adobe's official guide to the 3D options:

https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/desktop/special-effects-styles/create-3d-graphics/create-3d-objects.html

If you'd rather hire it out, any freelance vector designer can knock this out quickly — but give it one shot yourself first!

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