Thingiverse is a website dedicated to the sharing of digital design files created by users. The site, which primarily offers free, open-source hardware designs licensed under the GNU General Public License or the Creative Commons license, allows contributors to choose a user license type for the designs they share. 3D printers, laser cutters, milling machines, and a variety of other technologies can be used to physically create files shared by Thingiverse users. Thingiverse is popular in the DIY technology and Maker communities, as well as among 3D printer and MakerBot owners. Thingiverse is used by a number of technical projects as a repository for collaborative innovation and public dissemination of source materials. Many of the object files are designed for repair, decoration, or organization.

Thingiverse was founded in November 2008 by Zach Smith as a companion site to MakerBot Industries, a manufacturer of DIY 3D printer kits. Stratasys purchased Makerbot and Thingiverse in 2013. Thingiverse received an Honorable Mention in the category of Digital Communities at the 2010 ARS Electronica, Prix Ars Electronica international cyber-arts competition. Thingiverse had 25,000 designs as of November 2012; by June 2013, the total had surpassed 100,000. On July 19, 2014, the 400,000th Thing was released.

Ultimaker owns the site, which was previously owned by MakerBot Industries and run by one of its founders, Bre Pettis, in Brooklyn, New York. Thingiverse's terms of service require users not to include content that "contributes to the creation of weapons, illegal materials, or is otherwise objectionable". Thingiverse removed an uploaded design for an entirely 3D-printed gun in 2012. In response, the gun's creators created the website DEFCAD, which is intended to host Thingiverse's "censored" files.

Website: thingiverse.com

Instructables is more than just a repository of free 3D models. It's an excellent community portal for users to share their DIY projects. Instructables is dedicated to members working together step by step to build a variety of projects. Users add instructions to their projects, usually accompanied by visual aids, and then interact in topic forums and comment sections below each Instructable step. In August 2005, at the O'Reilly Foo Camp conference, a prototype version of the site was released, complete with the initial content of electronics, cooking, kiting, and bicycle projects. The original content primarily focused on projects such as building electronic or mechanical devices to solve common household problems. The project's scope has expanded to include a broader range of categories, such as Food, Living, Outside, Tech, Play, and Workshop. Sponsored categories are occasionally added to allow businesses to advertise a specific topic on the site.

The site allows users to upload photos, diagrams, video, and animation to help explain complex terminology and mechanisms in simple terms. Instructables has a full-time staff as well as a volunteer group that features well-documented articles, welcomes new users, and assists with site maintenance. Members who have registered can create Instructables, which are step-by-step descriptions of projects they want to share online. They are written in such a way that other members can easily replicate and share them with the rest of the community. Members can also upload videos and slideshows depicting undocumented projects.

Each month, several contests are held, each with a different theme. People vote for entries in a specific competition that they believe are of high quality and creativity, and the winners are awarded prizes. T-shirts, patches, and stickers are typically awarded in an Instructables-sponsored contest, but more extravagant prizes are frequently awarded based on sponsor availability.

Website: instructables.com

Cults is a 3D printing marketplace where designers, makers, and other users can share free and paid 3D printing models. It also serves as a social network for 3D printing enthusiasts. Cults is a rapidly expanding repository and marketplace where you can find and download high-quality 3D printed models. When it was founded in 2014, the website claimed to be the first independent marketplace of its kind, which is all the more impressive given that it has been run by only three people since then. This website is available in English, French, Spanish, Deutsch. Currently, the users of this sites are up to 4000000 people.

In an effort to promote sustainable consumption, Boulanger collaborates with Cults in 2016 to create Happy 3d, an open-source platform dedicated to spare parts printing. The name of the website also has a playful twist — if you read it backward, you get the name St. Luc, patron saint of the arts. Aside from the wordplay, the platform takes pride in its quality and uniqueness. Cults is a semordnilap: read from right to left, it spells St-Luc, patron saint of sculptors and artists. Furthermore, the first three letters are STL, which refers to the popular stereolithography file format used by creators.

Website: cults3d.com

Printables, formerly Prusa Printers, is a relatively new repository from Prusa Research that is frequently regarded as a modern alternative to Thingiverse. Prusa Printers, like Thingiverse, only hosts free files that are optimized for 3D printing. It's a well-kept website with a strong emphasis on its community. The site's administrators organize regular contests, list important events in the 3D printing community, host groups for 3D printing enthusiasts to communicate outside of file comment sections, and a forum for non-group conversations. Furthermore, the Prusameter reward system, which can be exchanged for printer consumables, incentivizes uploading models and participating in design contests.

Prusa Printers is a little different in that it allows users to upload pre-sliced G-code to its website. However, it should be noted that this is a contentious feature. Some manufacturers have warned against using G-code from unknown sources because bad actors could severely damage your hardware or worse. This website hosts a large community with numerous communication channels, regular contests, and pre-sliced G-code for Prusa 3D printers. Tutorials and instructions detailing how to build each creation are featured on the project pages. Furthermore, the majority of the designers are willing to answer public questions.

Website: printables.com

CGTrader is a 3D model marketplace and professional 3D designer community for VR/AR and CG projects. It was established in 2011 and is based in Vilnius, Lithuania. CGTrader has received funding from Practica Capital, a Vilnius-based seed and venture fund, as well as Intel Capital. Marius Kalytis, a 3D modeller and entrepreneur, founded the company in Vilnius, Lithuania, in 2011. CGTrader announced in May 2019 that it had reached a milestone of 800,000 3D models and 2,000,000 users. In CGTrader, you may find free 3D models. In the search, you may also utilize the 'Free' filter. When you click the 'Free download' option on the model page, the system takes you to another page where you must wait 20 seconds for the model files to be created for download. The model files can be downloaded from the view that shows after 20 seconds.

CGTrader operates an online 3D model marketplace for 3D designers and buyers in the CG industry. Freelance 3D designers, design firms, and 3D modeling enthusiasts upload their work, including descriptions, images, video previews (optional), and pricing. Uploaders should also choose a category - CG, low poly, or 3D printing - and provide additional technical information about their models. Buyers can select from a variety of file formats (if uploaded by 3D modellers). Buyers can communicate directly with model authors through CGTrader. Buyers who are interested in 3D models can also bid on them and negotiate with the designers. Buyers can also use a 3D job board to post job offers and order custom models. The digital files for the purchased models can be downloaded directly from the system or by following the link sent via email. There are several options for 3D printing ready models, such as purchasing the model or paying to stream it to a 3D printer.

Website: cgtrader.com

TurboSquid is a digital media and animation studio based in the United States that sells stock 3D models for use in 3D graphics to a variety of industries such as computer games, architecture, and interactive training. TurboSquid is a 3D model download site where you can find both free and premium content. It's a professional model site with extensive features. The company, headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana, is best known for brokering the sale of 3D models in exchange for a percentage of the proceeds. TurboSquid has over 800,000 3D models in its library as of 2019. Turbosquid also offers over 130,000 other products, including texture maps.

Matt Wisdom and Andy Wisdom founded TurboSquid after working together at Chimera Digital Imaging, a company that produced 3D animation for television commercials from 1994 to 2000. During that time, the pair started looking into ways to sell or license unused 3D models. Under the brand iPublish, they officially began software development of a marketplace in 1999.

TurboSquid launched the CheckMate Certification program in August 2011, in which models are checked against a unified 3D modeling standard developed by TurboSquid and passing models are marked as certified in their catalog. By December 2011, more than 2500 TurboSquid models had been CheckMate certified, with over 100 artists taking part. TurboSquid's quality control, dubbed "CheckMate", is a unique feature that consists of objective requirements to evaluate the quality of the 3D model (scale, clean UVs, texture resolution specified) and ensure buyers get what they pay for. Fortunately, there is a large free section with high-quality files to choose from.

Website: turbosquid.com

Yeggi is a search engine that indexes all assets across multiple platforms. CAD models and STLs, blueprints, and other types of technical drawings are among the over 12 million files in the platform's index. It crawls over 400 websites where users can upload their designs to share with others or use in work projects. Some of these sites specialize in specific purposes (for example, Kickstarter), while others support file sharing across multiple applications, including CAD software such as Solidworks, Maya, and others. Yeggi is the best web-based solution for finding and sharing CAD designs. It is completely free and requires no registration!

You can search by keywords, categories (for example, architecture), file type (DWG/DXF), and over 500 other parameters to find what you're looking for in a matter of minutes. Yeggi also has a community where users can discuss models they've discovered or shared with others, as well as share their own files. Yeggi searches all of the databases mentioned above, as well as many others, for 3D printable files. So, if you're looking for the "Google" of 3D models, this could be the site for you. The basic version is free, but there is a paid option if you want to print your model in high quality or have your designs professionally printed by the site's partners.

Website: yeggi.com/q/free

MyMiniFactory is a file distribution platform based in London, United Kingdom, that was founded in 2013. The online platform hosts digital creators, with a primary focus on 3D printing enthusiasts. The site is largely focused on tabletop-gaming figures, but it offers models from a wide range of categories. MyMiniFactory has collaborated with Oxfam to solve humanitarian issues through open-source design and manufacturing. MyMiniFactory launched an online STL file store in June 2018 where 3D designers can sell 3D printable files. MyMiniFactory allows brands to crowdsource through 3D design competitions. The platform has worked with companies like Warner Bros Group - Turner's Adventure Time, Rovio's Angry Birds, Autodesk, Google, and the Exxon Group.

Because the repository is also a marketplace, it provides a mix of free and paid models, many of which have been created by professional designers. MyMiniFactory is the only company that guarantees file quality. Uploaded prints run through a software check and are test printed by the community before being published. Furthermore, the website provides a subscription service, allows designers to set up their own stores, and hosts interesting 3D modeling challenges. Quality assurance, subscription services, and designer-specific stores are available on this website. Furthermore, this website mostly focused on tabletop figures.

Website: myminifactory.com

3DExport, which was founded in 2004, has grown to become one of the world's largest providers of high-quality 3D content. Users can buy and sell 3D models and textures for their own projects on their online marketplace (personal and commercial). 3DExport provides a diverse range of handcrafted 3D models in a variety of formats. When you find an artist whose work you like, it's simple to look through their portfolio and discover more of their work. 3DExport facilitates a more social environment than other marketplaces by allowing direct communication between the artist and the customer. They also provide customized modeling and animation services, allowing them to connect artists with clients.

3DExport also offers tutorials for learning game development and creating 3D assets. In this way, 3DExport assists in the development of new 3D artists while also providing a path for them to make a living in this field. 3DExport is a marketplace for premium 3D designs aimed at professional designers and 3D artists, but it also has a large selection of over 10,000 free models. Furthermore, the website hosts nearly 300 free community-created tutorials, making it an excellent source of both inspiration and education. This website's standout feature is its large collection of free and paid 3D models, as well as free community-created tutorials.

Website: 3dexport.com

Pinshape Inc. is a Vancouver, British Columbia-based online 3D printing community and marketplace. Designers can use it to share and sell their 3D printable designs. People who own 3D printers can print the designs themselves. Lucas Matheson (CEO), Nick Schwinghamer, and Andre Yanes founded Pinshape in 2013. The website is a marketplace for digital work by 3D designers from around the world. Designers of 3D printed objects set their own prices for their design files and choose which license to offer their work under (Creative Commons or other).

Designs found on Pinshape can be downloaded directly if the designer allows it, or they can be sent directly to a user's 3D printer via browser-to-printer functionality. The browser-to-printer functionality eliminates the need to access the design source file, thereby improving intellectual property security. Designers can choose to charge per print. Pinshape also allows users to review designs and share the printing settings they used. From April to July 2014, Pinshape was accepted into and participated in the 500 Global (then 500 Startups) accelerator program in Mountain View, California as part of Batch 9. They were one of 30 businesses chosen from over 1,400 applicants to take part in the four-month program. Pinshape has an education section with some helpful guides created by its staff and Formlabs, but it's largely ignored. The majority of the articles are from before 2018. Still, a small community exists, so it's worth a look!

Website: pinshape.com

The site's design is simple, but it claims to support a wide range of file types. This is useful if you frequently switch between CAD products. 3D CAD Browser offers 500 models, which may not seem like much in comparison to other sites, but it's still quite good. You can browse the models available by selecting one of the categories listed in the bar at the top of the page, which range from Vehicles to Industrial to Nature. Each category has its own sub-category, allowing you to narrow your search even further, such as Architecture > Buildings > Apartments/Hotels.

When you select a model, you can view it from various angles and examine data such as the number of polygons and materials. You'll also be able to see a list of the file formats that the model is available in. If you're not convinced by the model, you can scroll down to see other 3D models. The subscription service for 3D CAD Browser is slightly different. To download free models, create an account and upload your own models—for every download (from other users) of your uploaded model, you can download a free model. If you don't want to upload your own models, you'll have to choose one of the paid subscriptions.

Website: 3dcadbrowser.com