Do you have an interest in 3D printing? Do you design your own objects or download 3D models from the internet? Do you know under what license those models are published?

In this article, we will talk about some websites where you can find free 3D models. In another post later on, we will discuss Blender, an open-source 3D modeling program, with which you can design your own projects.

Thingiverse

Probably all 3D printing enthusiasts already know Thingiverse, one of the largest repositories worldwide, with over 2 million designs. It is an open initiative that encourages its users to publish their creations under free licenses: Creative Commons, GPL… Although it also allows publication under private licenses.

It is very easy to see under which license each design is published, on the left side of its description. In this example, we can see that the creator allows distribution, adaptation, and modification, even for commercial use, as long as the original creator is cited and it is distributed under the same license.

However, the advanced search option works a bit poorly on Thingiverse. We can see that no results are found when filtering by license type, although we have already seen that there are many models using Creative Commons - Attribution. Maybe they will solve it in the future, who knows.

YouMagine

Another interesting open-source alternative is the website YouMagine. Although smaller than Thingiverse (around 15,000 designs), it is a community committed to free publishing and collaboration among users.

On this website, it is also very easy to see the type of license that applies to each object, next to its description. But it does not allow filtering by license type in the search.

In 2015, YouMagine announced the creation of the 3DPL license, the first open-source license dedicated specifically to 3D printing. This license covers certain areas that traditional open-source licenses did not consider.

For example, by default, it allows distribution and modification. Optionally, it can require that the object be printed including the original creator’s logo, even if the object is modified. Or limit non-commercial use for 12 months, allowing reuse for commercial purposes after that period.

BlenderMarket

Finally, another option is the website BlenderMarket, which hosts models created by designers using the open-source tool Blender. Many are designed for 3D animations and video games, but the page allows filtering only printable models or those with free licenses.

Image of the banner: Felix 3D Printer, by Jonathan Juursema. Wikimedia Commons.