In the animated gif youll see that each layer is a component of the overall image. You determine the width of the outline or even if you dont want an outline. Highlights are done using gradient fills and most are put on their own layer. Illustrator 9.02 does not support animation. Im not sure if more recent versions do.

I know that Illustrator ai files (vector files) can be exported into some higher-end 3D programs and converted to splines. But the splines created from ai are very involved and need to be edited and made into simpler objects with fewer vertices. Then using these simplified splines you can model your mesh to fit the outline of these splines, a somewhat involved procedure. You would probably be better off modeling your figure in a modeling program.