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Question about free model websites

Fae3DFae3D Posts: 2,876
in The Commons

(I'm putting this in Commons because it's a request for freebie sites, not an offer of freebies.  If that's not right, please feel free to move it!)

I'm trying to find some free models (specifically a sphinx, like the stone ones not the creature, but I'm always looking for good freebies), but I'm having trouble. So many websites look fishy, and I don't really know how to tell if they're legit, or just a virus factory/pirate site.

Does anyone know of any good websites for this?  I know about Renderosity, Renderhub, DeviantArt (soooo hard to find stuff there), TurboSquid, CG Trader, and a few that have certain themes of stuff or just a few things, like MCasual's site has mainly scripts, and SDebStore has some wearables.

Also, I need them to be free for commercial use, I'm afraid to use anything else for anything but fanart.

Any that I've missed?

Comments

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 40,399

    https://www.fab.com/search?q=sphinx&sort_by=price

    if you want to redistribute mesh maybe https://www.meshy.ai/discover

    I can try prompting one in Hunyuan3D later too but am using my PC for other stuff right now, maybe tomorrow

  • ElorElor Posts: 3,422

    https://blendswap.com has some models for Blender, so you'll have to convert them to Daz. The licence is stated on each product and most of them are using a Creative Common Licence:

    https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/cclicenses/

    (too bad, the only sphinx available here is under a CC-BY-NC which mean non commercial work only)

    No sphinx as far as I can see in the following websites, but plenty of other models on this various websites (usually for Blender, so you'll have to convert them before using them for Daz Studio).

    Polyhaven also has models for Blender and all of them are under a CC0 licence (public domain basically, so you can do whatever you want with them):

    https://polyhaven.com/models

    AmbientCG has a small selection of 3D models, also shared under a CC0 licence:

    https://ambientcg.com/list?type=3d-model&sort=popular

    Blendarchive has lots of models free to use for commercial use (for a time, download was broken):

    https://blendarchive.com/

  • richardandtracyrichardandtracy Posts: 7,336
    edited July 2025

    Thingiverse does STL models where many may be modified and distributed with attribution. There's a bit of work needed to convert an STL into Obj & then DS file, and often a decimator program is needed, but it can work and STL files are too simple a format to have dodgy payloads. They need texturing and textures too. I did it once: Garden Gnome and it was a fair bit of effort.

    Regards,

    Richard

    Post edited by richardandtracy on
  • jjmainorjjmainor Posts: 495

    ambientcg.com is a small site offering mostly materials and HDRIs, but there are a few breads and fruit models.  However, they recently created 3dassets.one billed as a "3D Asset Search Engine" showing free stuff from a bunch of different sites.  You'll have to go to the particular sites to get the assets, but it should help to add a few more free sites to your list.

  • Fae3DFae3D Posts: 2,876

    Thank you so much, everyone, for the suggestions!  

    WendyLuvsCatz, I didn't know about Fab, that looks like a wonderful resource!!!  As for anything AI, I want to be able to use the images in the Daz+ contests, and they don't allow anything made with AI (same thing with the freebies contest).  But thank you for the suggestions and the offer!!!

    Elor, I do know about Polyhaven, I completely forgot to mention that one!  It's amazing for HDRIs.  And the site that explains the licenses is very helpful!  I really don't know anything about Blender, though, and have the WORST case of mental block about it.  I have no idea why, but every time I open the program I nearly panic, it's the stupidest thing XD

    richardandtracy, thank you for the info!  I try to avoid anything with attribution required, because it is REALLY hard to keep all the information on each model.  I always screenshot the license info of every freebie I download, but sometimes the creator name is not easy to find.  And I don't know anything about STL files, I'll have to research those!

    jjmainor, that's a great resource for foods, it looks like someone there has a massive love for bread, lol!  I'll bookmark that one, bread can be great for medieval and fantasy renders.

  • richardandtracyrichardandtracy Posts: 7,336
    STL files are collections of triangles to define the surface of a 3d printed object, and can be readable text or binary. The file has no rigging, texture mapping, surface groups or material zones. It's a dumb lump - a statue waiting to be made solid and then painted once printed. If it's to be more than a dumb lump in DS, it does take a fair bit of effort to convert to a format DS can read (obj usually), texture map, texture and rig from scratch. But for dumb lumps like statues, single part props, crockery etc it can be worth the effort. Regards, Richard.
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