I have seen many amazing 3D vector illustrations on sale recently that look like they have been created with the new 3D and material effects in Adobe Illustrator.
Actually it seems it's not possible to generate vector paths using that effect but only raster objects, therefore they would not be accepted by microstock agencies as vectors.
Do you have any idea of how these vector images are actually made?

I don't think there's a trick or particular tool. Just skill. Pay to download some and take a look.

Maybe they use Blender, then redone it on Illustrator

Can you show some examples? I think most 3D-style vector illustrations are done with skillfully applied (mesh) gradients. I haven't checked out the new 3D / material effects, but it seems to me that those, or any vector with raster effects would not be accepted.

Thank you all for your replies!

Some examples could be these:

https://www.shutterstock.com/search/realistic-3d-icon?image_type=vector
https://www.shutterstock.com/search/realistic-3d-banner?image_type=vector

I dowloaded a few and yes their structure is mesh gradients mostly it seems.
Lights and shadows are so accurate, even how the same objects is shown at different angles is so precise.
Probably it's true they create a 3D model as reference and then redo it in illustrator, they indeed have great skills.

Really nice work. You're probably right about the models.

Real nice work, I clicked and it seems that https://www.shutterstock.com/g/natis76 has done many of them? 96 pages of excellent vectors.

This can be done by rendering the 3D models in passes.

- diffuse color pass
- reflection pass
- specular pass
- shadow pass

Then they recreate each pass with vectors, and combine/blend them.

Quote from: Justanotherphotographer on January 14, 2023, 22:18
I don't think there's a trick or particular tool. Just skill. Pay to download some and take a look.

actually there is a particular tool in the latest version of illustrator CC. I just didn't pay much attention yet but if anyone is interested, there are already some youtube channels making how to videos explaining the process. here is an example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvnaJDvgEmM

edit: I am not sure how they got approved though. Last I knew EPS 10 was the latest accepted version for vector files. Pretty sure these aren't EPS 10 or an older version:
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/summer-3d-realistic-render-vector-icon-2139770563
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/online-shop-3d-render-realistic-vector-2070524291

so it appears shutterstock is accepting CC versions now. I guess it's time to stop saving my files to legacy versions