Why your decal looks stretched on a 3D model

1. The surface curves away

The commonest cause. A projected decal is cast along a single direction, like a slide projector. Where the surface faces the projector the image is exact; where it turns away, the same image is spread across more surface and thins out. On a bottle, a helmet or a car wing, that shows up as stretching towards the edges.

How to tell: the logo is sharp in the middle and smeared at the outside, and the smearing follows the curve of the panel.

Fix: use a surface-following placement mode, which grows the logo across the geometry instead of casting it at the geometry. Failing that, shrink the footprint so it stays within the flat region.

2. The model’s UV map is unusable

UVs are the map from the 3D surface to a flat image. Placement modes that use that map inherit whatever state it is in — and CAD exports frequently have none, or have several parts stacked on the same patch of it.

How to tell: the damage is weirder than stretching. The logo appears twice, or mirrored, or crushed into a sliver, or shows up on a part you never touched.

Fix: stop using the UV map. Projection and surface flow do not need one. If you need a texture-baked output specifically, the model has to be re-unwrapped in 3D software — nothing downstream can reconstruct a map that is not there.

A tool that offers UV-based placement on a model with no UVs, without saying so, will silently produce one of these results. If a mode is unavailable for your model, that is the tool being honest.

3. The placement mode does not suit the surface

Each mode is good at something. Projection is exact on flat panels and poor on curves. Surface flow wraps curves and refuses to cross sharp creases — which is correct, though it can look like the logo is being clipped if you expected it to continue onto the next panel. UV wrapping is the most faithful when the map is good and the worst when it is not.

Fix: match the mode to the surface. Flat panel, projection. Continuous curve, surface flow. Clean authored model with proper UVs, UV wrapping.

Quick answers

Why does my logo look fine from the front but stretched from the side?

That is curvature. A projected decal is cast along one direction, so it spreads as the surface turns away from that direction. Use a surface-following placement mode, or make the logo small enough to stay on the flat part of the panel.

Why is my decal tiled, mirrored or squeezed into a corner?

That is the model's UV map, not the decal. Overlapping or scrambled UVs are common in CAD exports. Switch to a placement mode that does not use UVs — projection or surface flow — or have the model re-unwrapped.

Why does the decal look right in the editor but wrong in the export?

The two are rendering the same placement through different code, so a mismatch is a bug rather than a setting. Compare the same angle in both, and report it with the model if they differ.