How do I bevel a gradient object in Illustrator CS2?

[celli...@adobeforums.com]

I have a basic square box created with the rectangle tool and then I filled it with a gradient mix of red and black. Now I want to bevel this box but inside the Extrude and Bevel Effect Settings it just keeps placing a gray metallic color around the box. I can bevel a regular square box with a solid color but for some reason it will not bevel it the same way when I have a box with a gradient color? Can anyone help me? Thanks.

[Stephe...@adobeforums.com]

Cellington:

Make your gradient into a symbol and then map this onto the surfaces of your 3D object. Search "Extrude & Bevel" in the help files and look at the sections on mapping artwork to a 3D object.

steve

[celli...@adobeforums.com]

My rectangle is not 3D. I don't want a 3d object. I just want my gradient rectangle to have a bevel effect just like a rectangle with a solid color. Thanks

[Bert Philippus]

Cell:

I hate to break it to you, but a bevel is 3-d by default. How can you have a bevel on a 2-d object? Beveling requires a certain depth, which requires a certain thickness of the object, which in turn requires it to be 3-d, or at least look like it's 3-d.

I also think, but this is only my opinion, even if it's an opinion I share with a great many other designers, that bevels are sooooooo 90's...

Hi Steve!

Bert

[celli...@adobeforums.com]

Ok, I thought I could create a gradient colored rectangle object and then just bevel it in the 3D effect settings. But I guess for gradients I will have to map them to the already beveled rectangle. I will try this. Thanks for the help.

[Teri Pettit]

What I would do is the following:

Select my gradient filled object
Copy / Paste in Front
Fill the duplicated object with white
Use the 3D Bevel effect, set the viewpoint to Front, and apply the desired shading to the white object. To avoid graying out your front surface, you will probably want to add an extra light from the front center (see More Options), while the other light remains off-center so that the bevel shading is darker at the bottom than the top.
Change the Transparency blend mode of the beveled object to Multiply

But Bert is right, bevels are so 90's. I wish I had time to update my genealogy web site (designed in 1996, with loads of beveled graphics and horizontal rules) to not look so outmoded.

[Bert Philippus]

Yeah Teri, what's up with THAT? ;)