There are more 3D models out there than you can throw a stick at, but where can you find the best ones?
Being an indie, solo, or hobbyist game developer comes with many different challenges, especially if you’re new to game development. You might’ve even seen our recent list of the most popular games made with Unity game engine and thought “Hey, I can do that!”. But here’s the thing, those games are often made with bigger teams and/or with the help of incredibly talented artists, which add thousands of work hours worth of Unity 3D models to the game. But what if you’re just a dude or dudette who likes to code? Then what?
Most publicly available engines have some form of asset store or marketplace where you can buy various assets, and even if you’re developing on Unity, you could still theoretically download an asset from the Unreal Marketplace and use it in Unity, though some re-assembly will then be required. But, in addition to the engine-specific storefronts there are also third-party websites specializing in game-ready assets. So since making 3D models is by far the most time-consuming part of game development, I figured I’d give you a handy list (in no particular order) of great sources for both paid and free 3D models.
Unity Asset Store
So, this is the obvious one, the first place to check is the Unity Asset Store. Not only do Unity artists and developers from all over the world sell their often top-quality level Unity 3D models here, but there are also quite a lot of free offerings, and Unity regularly organizes sales that see many of the asset bundles reduced anywhere from 20-90%. Another benefit is that in most cases assets also come pre-configured for Unity as prefabs with things like materials, shaders, animations, etc already set up and ready to go.
Artstation Marketplace
Artstation is pretty much the standard social network portfolio platform for digital artists everywhere, not just in 3D. That said a very large community of 3D artists exist on the platform and they quite often have their work for sale. In addition to straight-up finished 3D models, ArtStation is a particularly good resource for hard surface detail meshes, smart materials, and alpha brushes which you can use in combination with other 3D meshes to add or adjust details.
Sketchfab Store
Much like Artstation, Sketchfab is a social network, marketplace and portfolio platform for 3D models, and unlike Artstation, Sketchfab is specifically focused on 3D. Sketchfab has a great renderer/viewer so you can view all the Unity models turntable style, and the creator of the model has the option to adjust rendering settings for a better viewing experience. Of course, here too many creators allow you to buy their models, and there are sometimes sales heavily discounting them.
CG Trader
Finally, there’s CG Trader, this one really is almost just like Turbosquid, and while there are some minor differences between the two platforms with the exception of the actual content available. Just like TurboSquid CG Trader focuses on 3D models for traditional games, for VR and AR games and applications, and for 3D printing. CG Trader also has far more free assets than TurboSquid, so that’s nice.
TurboSquid
Perhaps the most well-known of all the pure asset marketplaces, and definitely one of the best places to get 3d assets, Turbosquid has been around for ages. It’s got an intuitive and well-categorized layout for their entire library, you can sort by pricing (free is our favorite), and it’s easy to find game-ready models by sorting by the “real-time” tag. Many of these will even come as Unity packages which are easy to add “plug and play” style to your project.
Quixel Megascans
If you’re doing a photo-realistic art style Quixel Megascans will be your new favorite URL. While it’s owned by Epic, it has really high-quality models and textures to be used for any game project or render. What sets Quixel apart is that everything in their store is a 3D scan. Meaning artists take high-resolution photographs of real-world objects and geometry from as many angles as possible and use that data to construct a 3D model and composite the images together to form a fully textured 3D model. Megascans have become an industry-standard in photo-realistic games and renders.
Kitbash3D
I’ve you’ve ever done any miniature work you might’ve heard the term Kitbash before. It’s the process of creating something new and unique by mixing and matching pieces from several different model kits and combining them into something completely new. Kitbash3D specializes in this exact thing but for 3D models instead of miniatures. Each kit “pack” is themed around various styles, eras or settings and since they’re all highly optimized and come packaged ready for Unity (if you choose) they can be mixed and matched at will.
Gumroad
Gumroad is similar to Turbosquid but less focused. While it’s a great resource for 3D models, you kind of have to go searching a bit more, as it’s kind of like a Myspace for creatives where they have their own Gumroad website that they can feature their products on, and Gumroad takes care of the shopping back-end. Trying to navigate the Gumroad discovery site isn’t the best either (unless you like Furry models), so Gumroad is likely something you’ll use organically as you discover artists you like and their respective storefronts.
Best Free 3D Models For Unity:
So now you know where to go for fantastic 3d assets to use in Unity. But if you’re an indie or hobbyist developer your budget might be somewhere between very small and nothing at all. So, what about free Unity models? Which of the above has the best selection of 3D models and even unity 2D models (better known as Sprites) that cost the low-low price of nothing? Unlike the list above this list is ranked.
- Sketchfab – 600000+ free 3d models/packs.
- CG Trader – 118000+ free 3D models/packs.
- Turbosquid – 50000+ free 3D models/packs.
- Unity Asset Store – 3000+ free 3D models/packs.
- Artstation – 2700+ free 3D models/packs.
- Gumroad – 600+ free 3D models/packs.
PS: Please make sure to read license information on any and all models you download, as just because they are free to download, might not mean you have the right to use them in a commercial product for free. Also, if you’re starting at the other end of the road and need to decide on which engine to use, check out this Unity vs Unreal Engine comparison.
