Pop3D Charts – 2D/3D Data Visualizer

Description

Pop3D Charts brings interactive chart building into the WordPress Block Editor. Add one chart block, enter or import your data, choose a layout, adjust the appearance in the sidebar, and publish a responsive visualization without using shortcodes or a separate chart dashboard.

The free version is a complete production-ready chart block for editorial content, landing pages, reports, comparisons, educational pages, survey results, KPI sections, and data-driven articles. It focuses on three useful chart families, live editing, flexible imports, visitor-friendly controls, and clean integration with Gutenberg.

What you can build with the free version

• Straight column charts for classic category comparisons.
• Stacked column charts for totals, composition, and percentage-style comparisons.
• Pie and donut charts for simple shares of a whole.
• 2D and 3D views where supported by the selected chart layout.
• Interactive front-end charts with optional legend, sorting, data table modal, and PNG export.
• Responsive chart sections that can be adjusted for desktop, tablet, and mobile layouts.

Designed for the block editor

Everything important happens inside the block sidebar. You can edit rows, import data, switch layouts, change palettes, adjust labels, configure captions, and preview the result while you work.

There is no shortcode workflow and no separate proprietary chart database. Chart settings and chart data are stored as normal block attributes inside the post content.

Free version features

• Three chart layouts: straight columns, stacked columns, and pie/donut charts.
• Five built-in color palettes: Vivid, Pastel, Accessible, Material, and Corporate.
• Per-row color overrides using hex color values.
• Live editor preview while editing data, labels, appearance, captions, and chart settings.
• Manual row editor for adding, editing, duplicating, reordering, and deleting chart rows.
• Flexible data input: enter rows manually, paste from a spreadsheet, or import JSON, CSV, XLSX, or XLS files.
• Chart data export as CSV or JSON.
• Optional front-end controls such as legend, sorting, data table modal, fullscreen view, and PNG download where enabled and supported.
• Lazy loading for 3D scenes when charts scroll into view.
• Built-in translations for English, German, French, and Spanish.
• Accessibility-minded output with labelled chart regions, semantic data tables, keyboard-friendly dialogs, accessible toolbar labels, and live regions for loading and tooltip states.

Bring your own data

Start with a few manual rows, paste values from Excel or Google Sheets, or import a prepared file. The importer accepts familiar column names and turns your data into chart rows automatically.

For most charts, the most useful columns are:

• value — the number that drives the chart.
• headline — the main label, such as a product, country, month, or category.
• unit — an optional unit such as %, €, kWh, or items.
• paragraph — optional tooltip text.
• smallPrint — an optional source note or footnote.
• color — an optional custom row color such as #ff8800.
• groupKey — useful for stacked chart groups.

A simple CSV can look like this:

value;unit;headline;paragraph;smallPrint
42;%;North;Sales region Q1;Report 2024
31;%;South;Sales region Q1;Report 2024

Tip: create one chart manually, then export it as CSV from the block settings. The exported file gives you a practical template for your own spreadsheet.

Built for visual storytelling

Pop3D Charts is made for charts that feel like part of the page instead of external reports embedded into it. It works especially well for:

• editorial data stories
• annual reports
• landing page sections
• product and feature comparisons
• survey results
• educational content
• simple KPI and performance summaries

Pro version

A Pro add-on is sold separately outside the WordPress.org directory. The free plugin remains fully usable on its own; Pro extends the same chart block when both plugins are installed and active.

Pro adds the expanded toolkit: additional chart layouts, extended palettes, a custom palette builder, more layout-specific styling options, and the full pattern library.

In simple terms: the free plugin includes three core layouts and five palettes. Pro adds seven more layouts, the full palette set, custom palette building, advanced styling options, and ready-made chart patterns.

Learn more about Pro: https://clausernst.com/en/pop3d-charts-wordpress-plugin/

For free plugin support, please use the Support tab on this plugin page. Commercial support for the Pro version is handled through the vendor support channel.

Credits

Attributions required under Apache License 2.0 for bundled components are listed in the root file NOTICE; the full Apache-2.0 license text is in licenses/APACHE-2.0.txt.

Third-party libraries and assets are bundled with this plugin and served from your site. Runtime dependencies such as Three.js are not loaded from external CDNs.

• three.js — 3D rendering (MIT License). https://threejs.org/
• three.js examples (OrbitControls, RoundedBoxGeometry, Reflector, CSS2DRenderer) — Same license as three.js (MIT), included alongside the vendor build.
• SheetJS Community build (xlsx) — Parsing .xlsx / .xls files in the block editor for import (Apache License 2.0). https://sheetjs.com/
• Troika 3D text (troika-three-text and sibling modules under vendor/troika) — Rendering text in WebGL scenes (Troika: MIT License). The file vendor/troika/troika-three-text.esm.js embeds components whose upstream licenses are called out at the top of that bundle: Typr.ts (MIT), fflate (MIT), woff2otf WOFF unpacking (Apache-2.0), and unicode-font-resolver client (MIT). https://github.com/protectwise/troika
• Barlow Semi Condensed (Bold and Light .ttf under assets/) — Typography in 3D labels (SIL Open Font License 1.1). https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Barlow+Semi+Condensed

The plugin does not transmit imported spreadsheet files to your server as uploads; parsing runs in the editor in the visitor’s browser. Chart settings and data live in normal block attributes in post content.