Let’s dive into the most prestigious stock 3D sites for 3D customers and learn to evaluate their highlights and features.
It’s commonplace to integrate stock 3D models into your projects, especially while completing a scene with copious amounts of assets on a strict deadline.
The myriad of resources a stock 3D site offers can be a mark in your favor, but you need to know what to consider in order to purchase the right 3D model from a professional standpoint.
No one has the time to browse entire 3D libraries, so here’s what you need to know to navigate 3D marketplaces so you can find what you need quickly.
What Makes a Good 3D Marketplace?
From the customer’s perspective, the 3D model marketplace choice involves several aspects. Let’s identify the most relevant ones.
Website Design
Content should be easy to access and retrieve, meaning the site should make good use of categories, search filters, and tags.
If you’re looking for dogs instead of cars, you’ll be expecting ways to filter the selection. Organizational tools like filters and categories should be immediately visible—the homepage is the right place to position those widgets.
Product Descriptions
Second, high-quality product descriptions and metadata is crucial. Vendors generally submit mandatory product information meant to advise customers on whether the product is suitable for their needs.
The most important are:
- Formats: Whether they are exchange formats (e.g. .obj, .fbx, etc.) or native formats (e.g. .max, .ma, .c4d, etc.). This helps immediately determine whether the model is suitable for your 3D application or not.
- 3D model specifications: Listing the number of polygons, the presence of textures, animations, rigging, and UVs to name a few. This is an excellent way to filter based on your needs. Don’t feel like texturing the model yourself? Get a model with textures applied already. Planning to animate a character? It’s better if it’s already rigged.
- License types and conditions to use the 3D model.
It’s always smart to choose 3D models with a complete and detailed description from the seller. Products with very few images or incomplete textual descriptions are likely not as desirable for customers, as they don’t provide enough information to make an informed decision.
Additional Considerations for Choosing a 3D Marketplace
There are lesser factors (but still important!) to take into consideration when choosing a 3D model storefront.
Customer Support
Support services, hours, and efficiency vary from site to site, and there are usually several ways to contact technical support teams such as a chat or ticketing system. We’ll get into specifics when we talk about different 3D marketplaces in detail.
Pricing
Price influences customers across all industries. Although a high price isn’t always an indicator of top-notch products, 3D assets tend to have a relevant price because of their quality and provided features, and the pricing is often determined by the artist.
As rule of the thumb, to globally judge a professional product, a customer should consider these three elements together when purchasing a 3D model:
- The seller profile page displaying the selection of sold products and activity on the marketplace.
- Seller product presentation in terms of images, description, and technical details.
- The product pricing which should be adequate to the description, provided assets, and textures.
For those always looking for great deals, you may consider whether or not a marketplace offers promotions when deciding where to buy your 3D models.
Many marketplaces offer regular sales and promos, so it’s a good habit to add a product to your wishlist and check when it has a discount applied.
Newsletters are a great way to stay up-to-date with promotions from your favorite 3D stores.
And, it’s always important to be aware of the payment methods a marketplace offers, as well as any refund policies. You want to make sure that the store is reliable!
Now that we know what important criteria to consider, let’s get into the specifics!
TurboSquid
Considered one of the most renowned marketplaces ever with a meticulous selection of professional 3D models, TurboSquid has dominated the market for years.
Founded in 2000 by a team of artists and acquired by Shutterstock in 2021, the company manages a massive library of high-quality stock 3D models for any 3D artist.
TurboSquid features more than a million stock assets with millions of customers from around the world. The homepage has been updated recently with a brand-new redesign and clear layout to organize the contents.
As a customer accesses the homepage, they feel comfortable with an intuitive interface including a search filter, a first selection based on model formats, and a list of the most important categories, with stunning preview images for subcategories.
If you already have an idea of what you’re looking for, you have a quick way to filter the contents.
When you are within the search results, you have the option to access a preview of a single product without leaving the search result page. That’s convenient!
In regards to product quality and selection, TurboSquid has a CheckMate specification program, to guarantee that CheckMate certified 3D models follow the industry standard guidelines and are of the highest quality.
The product detail page has everything a customer needs to know. Some products might even include downloadable preview videos or other additional resources from the seller, all available before purchasing.
About the customer support, TurboSquid offers a live chat and a ticketing system for any potential issues or online inquiry.
For the deal-seekers, TurboSquid often offers promotions and discounts on a wide selection of 3D models.
Here’s a recap with some additional distinctive features. . . .
TurboSquid facts:
- Founded in 2000.
- Offers high-quality stock 3D models.
- Quick and easy info retrieval via a general filter, a first set of categories, subcategories, model formats, and so on.
- More specific filters are available in the product list page such as poly count, quality, license type, animated and rigged model selection, collections, sorting (newest, oldest, highest/lowest price, best match).
- Complete 3D model specifications.
- High attention to quality and selection from CheckMate certified models.
- 3D artists gain badges depending on their Squid Level, which corresponds to their level of sales on the TurboSquid site.
- Customer support via live chat or ticketing system.
- Customers can ask for a format conversion, if they need a particular file type.
- Offers secure payment methods and refund policies.
- Often offers promotions and discounts on a large 3D model selection.
CGTrader
More recent than TurboSquid, CGTrader was launched in 2011. The community has grown over the years, and is said to have reached around two million users in 2019.
They have over a million high-quality 3D assets suitable for freelancers, companies, and hobbyists. Their product selection ranges from animals, characters, vehicles, buildings, and more.
They tend to cater to the bargain hunter and seem to always be running sales. In recent years, they have deprioritized the marketplace offering to focus on Modelry, their custom modeling service.
Like TurboSquid, CGTrader has a well-organized structure with filters, categories, tags, and a series of additional details for a targeted search.
They also have a large library of 3D printable parts, as they began strongly pursuing the 3D printing market.
Price negotiation is possible, where the customer and seller can discuss to agree on a final price. This functionality is available by an “offer price” button, next to the original price. This is yet another way CGTrader is offering users a bargain.
Sellers’ reliability is based on a star rating system. For every purchased product, customers can give a score from 1 to 5 stars.
The customer support team works from Monday to Friday, each request managed by email.
Here’s a recap with some additional distinctive features. . . .
CGTrader facts:
- Founded in 2011.
- Offers high-quality stock 3D models.
- Quick access to the products via filters, categories, tags, and so on.
- Complete 3D model details.
- Customers can interact with sellers and negotiate a price.
- It’s possible to hire a seller for custom 3D model production.
- Customers can ask for a format conversion, if they need a particular file type.
- Uses a star rating system for a seller, so that customers can judge the reliability of the seller.
- Customer support available via email.
- Offers secure payment methods and refund policies.
- Often offers seasonal promotions with discounts on a selection of 3D models.
Sketchfab
Sketchfab was founded in 2011 as a 3D model sharing platform, its marketplace launching in 2018. It grew in popularity and currently has six million users.
The feature that makes Sketchfab different from other marketplaces is the possibility to interactively inspect 3D models at 360 degrees. This was the primary focus of their business until recently when they launched their marketplace.
Thanks to WebGL and WebXR technologies, customers can interact with the models in real-time, from both desktop and mobile. They can also inspect materials, inspect textures, change light orientation, and much more. It is industry-leading technology.
3D models might also be supplemented with 3D animations that users can play as a preview in the product viewer.
However, it should be noted that Sketchfab is all about real time content—meaning anyone can upload a random phone scan that isn’t good quality. Buyer beware. Make sure you thoroughly inspect models and their descriptions before making a purchase here.
Their product selection covers several categories including animals, people, science, sports, weapons, and so on. Their core customers—and who they cater to the most—are game developers.
Search filters, 3D model specifications/description, comments, reviews, and metadata are well-organized too.
Here’s a recap with some additional distinctive features. . . .
Sketchfab facts:
- Founded in 2011.
- Allows inspection of 3D models and materials at 360 degrees with a model inspector.
- Wide range of categories and model types.
- Complete 3D model specifications.
- Customer support via email.
- Star rating system for sellers and assigned badges.
- Offers secure payment methods but products cannot be refunded once purchased. The only way is to contact the seller directly.
- Offers services for businesses like 3D configurators and 3D eCommerce integration.
KitBash3D
Sometimes you just want to collect a bunch of assets and create a 3D environment quickly. This website is the right choice for such situations.
With KitBash3D, you have thousands of premium modular environment set packs that you purchase as kits.
This is not a community of sellers, as all the products are created and promoted by KitBash3D. They’re filtered by genres like historical, sci-fi, modern cities, fantasy, and so on.
In terms of product details, you can find the number of included models with materials and the poly count.
Customers can download the kit for specific applications and with a dedicated license—individual, small studio, or enterprise. They also indicate the required computer specs to run the entire package.
Here’s a recap with some additional distinctive features. . . .
KitBash3D facts:
- Founded in 2017.
- Ideal for building 3D worlds with less effort and lots of high-quality 3D assets out of the box.
- Good variety of kits by genres.
- Complete kit detail.
- Customer support via a help center.
- Offers secure payment methods. They have a 30-day return policy after placing an order.
- Often promotes their kits with interesting discounts.
- Announced they will be combining all of the Epic-owned sites (Quixel, Artstation, and SF) into Fab.
Quixel Megascans
Founded in 2011, Quixel has an extensive library of 3D-scanned assets for use in films and games. All products are optimized and delivered with PBR materials.
Since Epic Games acquired Quixel in 2019, all the library content has been free within Unreal Engine. However, the content used for external 3D applications has a cost.
The product selection includes thousands of 3D-scanned assets and textures organized into categories such as nature, props, plants, food, furniture, and buildings.
Users can decide the texture resolution, as well as the texture type (albedo, normal, displacement, etc.). Megascan provides several Level of Details (LOD) for every 3D asset.
As said, the Megascan library is free inside of Unreal Engine. However, different plans are available for use with external applications. Customers choose a plan on a monthly basis and gather points for the assets. For both personal and indie plans, they currently offer 90 points per month.
Refunds are related to subscriptions and they offer secure payment methods.
Here’s a recap with some additional distinctive features. . . .
Quixel Megascans facts:
- Founded in 2011.
- Offers 3D-scanned models with high resolution textures.
- Products are well organized into categories and collections with proper filtering.
- The library is free within Unreal Engine. For external use, they have specific subscription plans.
- 3D assets can be purchased through points.
- Provides 3D characters (metahumans) to be used in Unreal Engine.
- Offers secure payment methods. They have a refund policy related to subscriptions.
License this cover image via tele52 and Light-Studio.
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