3DM3.com reminds me of the CG Society’s website, in that it’s a community site with a forum, articles and a gallery, but on a much smaller scale. Unlike CG Talk, however, this site offers over 300 free models for download, and they seem to be of higher-than-usual quality for free models. One downside is that the site does not mention what filetype a particular model is, so you won’t know until you’ve downloaded it. Some models are 3ds format, which Vue can read natively. If the filetype is MAX, however, you’ll need to find a way to convert it before using it in Vue.
If you’re looking for low-to-middle quality free models, this site is worth a look. Here you’ll find over 200 models, all free, of various quality. There are also some low-cost CD collections for sale here.
This is a commercial site offering 60 or so models for free. It’s a small collection, but if you’re looking for an Italian dagger or Christmas tree ornaments, your search is over.
Turbo Squid is a huge, well-known marketplace for selling and buying 3D models, and they offer quite a few for free. To find them, select “3D Model” as your “media type.” Then, sort by lowest price, and the free ones will come to the top. Free registration is required to download.
Primarily known for their high-quality textures, 3D Total has a nice group of models for free download. Look for the “Free Stuff” link at the top of the page, and select “models” from the dropdown.
Renderosity has a huge number of free 3D models in various file formats. The overall quality is quite low, but there’s a few gems among the clunkers. To get to the models, hover over the “Free Stuff” button in the top navigation area, and click on “Search Free Stuff” in the dropdown.
This site has an whole IKEA’s worth of contemporary 3D furniture available for free download. There’s over one hundred pieces of architectural-rendering-grade stuff here.
In addition to a TON of great, free tutorials for Vue, Hexagon, and others, Geek At Play always has a page or so of free models available for download. Just another reason a visit to their site is time well spent.
This site has some very impressive, free models for download. It’s a very well-designed, eye-pleasing site, as well. Plan to spend a good while here.
DD Freebies is a blog with a small but unusual grouping of models. If you happen to be looking for intricate, abstract forms, take a look.
