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

Thingiverse

Surely all 3D-printing enthusiasts already know Thingiverse, one of the largest repositories worldwide, with more than 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 proprietary licenses.

It is very easy to see under what license each design has been published, to the left 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 rather poorly on Thingiverse. We can see that no results are found when filtering by license type, although we have already seen that many models use Creative Commons - Attribution. Maybe they will fix it in the future, who knows.

YouMagine

Another very interesting open-source alternative is the website YouMagine. Although smaller than Thingiverse (about 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, you can require that the object be printed including the original creator’s logo, even if the object is modified. Or limit it to 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 with the open-source tool Blender. Many are designed for 3D animations and video games, but the page allows you to filter only printable models, or those with free licenses.

Banner image: Felix 3D Printer, by Jonathan Juursema. Wikimedia Commons.