Illustrator - Stroke after 3d Effect

Question

i apologize if my question is too immature but i just cant figure it out. i'm new to illustrator and i want a black stroke around all my objects but i cant give it to objects that have 3D effects applied to them (like the sphere in the attached image). tried Rasterizing and expanding but no result. thank you.

Answer 1

3D Effect objects take a couple of special steps in order to add a stroke effectively.

Select the object with the 3D Effect applied and choose Object > Group.

In the Appearance Panel, add a New Stroke and then move that Stroke so it is below the Contents.

Highlight the stroke in the Appearance Panel and choose Effect > Pathfinder > Add

You should then be able to change the color and weight of the stroke to your liking.

Note the Group is important because otherwise the stroke will be applied to only the original object minus the 3D effect. The Add effect is important otherwise the stroke is applied to all blend steps within the 3D object and not the object as a whole. I can't state why strokes are so odd on 3D objects, but this should be a sufficient workaround.