3D & AR commerce glossary

Photo-to-3D

The automatic reconstruction of a textured, AR-ready 3D model from existing product photography. A photo-to-3D system takes one or more 2D images and outputs a mesh plus materials and textures, exported to a standard format such as GLB or USDZ.

Photogrammetry

A 3D capture method that reconstructs high-fidelity geometry from many overlapping photos taken from every angle. It avoids inferring unseen surfaces but needs a capture rig and a session per physical item, which limits its throughput at catalog scale.

3D model

A digital representation of an object made of a mesh (the shape) plus materials and textures (the surfaces). On a product page a 3D model is what shoppers rotate, zoom, and place in AR.

Mesh

The geometric surface of a 3D model — the shape, made up of vertices and faces. The mesh is paired with materials and textures to describe how the surface looks.

Materials and textures

The surface description of a 3D model: textures are the image maps applied to the mesh, and materials define how the surface reflects light — for example how leather, mesh, rubber, and metal hardware each behave differently.

GLB

The binary form of glTF: a single self-contained file that bundles geometry, materials, animations, and textures. It is the web and Android-AR default, loads directly in <model-viewer>, and powers Scene Viewer. See the format guide.

glTF

GL Transmission Format, an open Khronos standard sometimes called "the JPEG of 3D." The .gltf variant is human-readable JSON that references external .bin and image files; for distribution the same data is usually shipped as a single GLB.

OBJ

A legacy text format for mesh geometry, with materials in a companion .mtl file and textures as separate images. It has no animation or AR support of its own and produces large files, so it is typically converted to GLB before use.

USDZ

Apple's AR delivery format — a zipped package built on Pixar's Universal Scene Description. It is what iOS Quick Look uses to place models in the real world, and it generally cannot be generated in-browser from an arbitrary GLB.

AR viewer

A tool that displays a 3D model in interactive 3D and, on supported devices, in augmented reality. The viewer on this site is fully client-side: it accepts GLB, glTF, and OBJ files that never leave the device.

WebXR

A browser API for augmented and virtual reality that lets a web page present AR experiences directly. AR works best on Android (via Scene Viewer) and WebXR-capable browsers.

Scene Viewer

Google's Android AR component that opens a GLB model and lets the user place it in their real-world space. It is the AR path used on Android devices.

Quick Look

Apple's native iOS AR feature that places a USDZ model in the real world from Safari. Because it needs USDZ, native iOS AR is not available from an arbitrary in-browser GLB.

model-viewer

Google's open-source web component for displaying interactive 3D models and launching AR. It is the standard way to embed a GLB on a page and the renderer used by the viewer and examples on this site.

three.js

A JavaScript 3D library used in the browser. On this site it converts OBJ files to GLB on-device using OBJLoader, MTLLoader, and GLTFExporter so they can be displayed in model-viewer.

Last updated June 2026 · Photo-to-3D AR Viewer editorial