: Illustrator CC: Mapping Art to 3D Object in Illustrator but the "Surfaces" aren't fully selected I'm lost here. 2 hours down the drain trying to figure this out. This is what's happening: I'm

@Murray976

The issue is due to the 3D extrusion.

Each separate section which requires extrusion variations is different. You can't map art over anything more than one extrusion section, as you've discovered. Illustrator's 3D is really, really, really lacking in many areas. This is one such area.

There are two possible workarounds I can think of:


Distort your text independently of the 3D object, don't map it to
the object.
Extrude the primary surface to create depth rather than extruding the depth to create the primary surface and add the text to the shape you are extruding before applying the 3D extrusion.


Assuming your "1pt stroke" is just a wavy line to make the flag and the goal is to have text "wave" in the same manner the flag is....

Draw the flat shape with Type on a Path set to "Skew":



The "Skew" setting for Type on a Path keeps type verticals vertical and only makes the horizontals of the type follow the path.

Outline the type and then you can use the 3D Extrude & Bevel to rotate the image and extrude the 1pt edge. The lighting isn't nearly as dynamic in the 3D effect because the main surface isn't being auto-created by the extrusion. THis is another limitation of Illustrator's 3D effect. However the shapes are there and that's the important aspect, lighting can be adjusted manually by adding additional gradients to the shape or adding other objects.



Using this method you can't map art because the flat surface is not being generated by the extrusion. Therefore the flat surface won't distort the text at all.

If your art is more complex than straight type, you can use Object >Envelope Distort` to alter the shape to try and match the waving flag before extruding things.

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