Guides — 12 long reads

The working knowledge of 3D logos

Formats, materials, lighting and export — written around the jobs people actually do. No filler, no affiliate detours; every claim maps to a feature or file this site ships.

01 · 6 min read
How to make a 3D logo in your browser (no software, no upload)
A complete walkthrough: type or upload a mark, extrude it, pick from 13 curated PBR materials, light it with 20 environments and export PNG, GLB, OBJ, STL or video — entirely on your device.
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02 · 5 min read
GLB vs glTF: which one should you export?
GLB is the binary container form of glTF 2.0. Same spec, same PBR materials — different packaging. When to ship which, and how to convert between them locally.
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03 · 5 min read
OBJ vs GLB: the old interchange format meets the modern one
OBJ carries geometry and UVs but no PBR materials; GLB carries a full scene with physically based shading. Which to pick depends on where the mesh is going.
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04 · 6 min read
Printing a logo: what STL export really means
STL is geometry-only: triangles, no color, no units. How to prepare an extruded logo for a slicer — depth, bevels, thin walls and bed orientation.
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05 · 7 min read
PBR materials explained: metalness, roughness and why presets matter
Physically based rendering in three parameters: metalness, roughness, and clearcoat/transmission for the fancy cases. How the site's 13 curated presets map onto them.
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06 · 5 min read
The chrome text effect, done properly
Chrome lettering is metalness 1 with near-zero roughness reflecting a strong environment. How to get mirror chrome, brushed steel and gunmetal reads from the same preset family.
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07 · 5 min read
Gold text without looking like clip art
Good gold is warm base color, metalness 1, roughness in the 0.1–0.3 band, and warm-key lighting. Where each of the site's gold presets fits: solar, clean, brushed, rose.
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08 · 5 min read
Glass and frosted text: transmission, IOR and refraction
Real glass in a browser: transmission near 1, IOR ~1.5, and why frosted glass is just roughness applied to refraction. Clear glass vs frosted, and when glass beats chrome.
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09 · 6 min read
Turntables and reveals: exporting your logo as video
Recording motion straight from the WebGL canvas: MP4/WebM capture, frame-rate honesty, loop points, and the motion presets — Spin, Float, Reveal — that cut cleanly.
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10 · 5 min read
Polygon counts for logos: when to care, when not to
Extruded text is cheap geometry — typically a few thousand triangles — but bevel segments and curve resolution multiply it. Budgets for web, game engines and print.
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11 · 6 min read
From a flat image to a 3D mark: tracing vs generation
Two honest paths: vector/bitmap tracing into an extrusion (deterministic, print-perfect) and on-device generation — heightfield relief from photos, procedural geometry from prompts. When each wins.
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12 · 5 min read
FBX explained: what it is, and why browsers only read it
FBX is Autodesk's proprietary interchange format — ubiquitous in DCC pipelines, awkward on the web. What an FBX holds, why importing works but exporting from a browser doesn't.
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The working knowledge of 3D logos

How to make a 3D logo in your browser (no software, no upload)

GLB vs glTF: which one should you export?

OBJ vs GLB: the old interchange format meets the modern one

Printing a logo: what STL export really means

PBR materials explained: metalness, roughness and why presets matter

The chrome text effect, done properly

Gold text without looking like clip art

Glass and frosted text: transmission, IOR and refraction

Turntables and reveals: exporting your logo as video

Polygon counts for logos: when to care, when not to

From a flat image to a 3D mark: tracing vs generation

FBX explained: what it is, and why browsers only read it