Car 3D Model Sources – 5 Best Sites

So, why would one search for a 3D model of a car? Maybe you’re a car enthusiast who happens to own a 3D printer, and then a car model would make a great desk ornament.

Or maybe you’re an architect wanting to provide render images of the projects you’re working on for clients. In such renders, cars are sometimes put in driveways or parking lots to make the render seem as real as possible. That’s when an architect would potentially need a 3D model of a car.

Another use case example for 3D car models: Naturally, video games contain 3D models in them. The developers of such games animate the 3D models to behave as they want. So, a detailed 3D model of a car could indeed be very helpful for the developers in the process of developing a car video game.

These are just some of the examples, and we believe you probably have some creative ones too. So, keep reading and find out the best online sources for 3D models of cars.

Note that this article is meant to focus not only on 3D models for 3D printing, as it includes 3D models that can additionally be used for making renders and the development of video games.

Hum3D is a website dedicated to 3D models of not just cars, but other categories as well. As Hum3D claims themselves, there are a total of 16397 3D models available.

Despite the fact that Hum3D offers a range of model categories, let’s focus on cars. The selection is very well organised by name brands. Every individual model comes with its own helpful description. The price is listed for each model nice and big, so that you can’t possibly unsee it. Speaking of price, let’s talk about what comes included at the base price.

The base price for each model gets you many different formats: .3ds, .c4d, .fbx, .lwo, .max, .mb, .obj, .3dm, .aep, .blend, .dxf, .dwg, .skp, .stl, .xsi, .mxs, .psd

They also offer a range of optional services for models you to buy. For example, you could pay more and get some of the following services: Solid/CAD/NURBS software compatible format, an optimized model for game/app engines, UV-mapping for exterior, scene setup for rendering, 3D printing-ready format (STL) and many more.

Each model comes with a dozen of its pictures, naturally. What we find to be interesting is the feature for polygons count. This helps to reveal how smooth the surface of a model truly is. The one last thing we also want to mention is that Hum3D gives its customers an option to request the creation of a bespoke model. We find that feature to be quite handy.

Site: Hum3D

Cost: File prices differ based on what customers choose. The base prices for car models on Hum3D are usually somewhere betweeen $85 and $110.

Turbosquid is a true dreamland for professionals looking for 3D models. Turbosquid hosts a very large amount of 3D models, most of which are made for professionals. There’s a large number of categories for the models and they cover pretty much anything one could ever want.

In terms of car models, there are many available. Although TurboSquid has some free car models, their quality is rather low. However, the paid models on TurboSquid are stunning. The level of detail is incredible.

Most of the models come UV-mapped. In terms of formats, it’s hard to speak about it in general. It all depends on specific models. Thankfully, each model has it’s own description where customers can make sure there is or isn’t everything they’re looking for in a 3D model.

One last thing, though. We really like the high quality of all the pictures for the high end models on TurboSquid. It was a pleasure looking at them, well done indeed!

Site: TurboSquid

Cost: File prices range from free to $300+

Despite the site’s name says Free3D, not all models on Free3D are free. The two main model categories are “free models” and “premium models”. There are lots of car models available, both free and paid, next to a number of other categories.

The site is nicely organized and easy to use. For example, the vehicles category has its own subcategories such as “car”, “truck”, “police”, “ferrari” and so on.

Speaking of ease of use, since each individual model is created by a certain artist, not all descriptions are the same. However, each model comes with a brief description written by its author. Alongside the given description, users can take a look at formats & files available and the specifications for individual models.

Site: Free3D

Cost: File prices range from free to $50+

As CGTrader’s website says, it’s a place where people can find the perfect 3D content for their needs, including AR/VR, gaming, advertising, entertainment, and 3D printing.

Again, as the other sources, CGTrader contains several different categories in which a total of 830,000 models is divided. The car model category contains 26,371 car models of different types of cars and model formats. What we think would be a nice feature to have is the ability to search car brands and types of vehicles directly from a side bar, or something similar. Naturally, there’s always the search engine where users can manually search for brands, but shortcuts would make the process smoother.

All in all, there’s a plenty to choose from and we believe there must be something for everyone on CGTrader. As expected, each model comes with a selection of model images, the description and the model formats and details nicely listed.

Site: CGTrader

Cost: File prices range from free to $500+

Sketchfab is an online platform for everything 3D. 3D professionals can upload and sell their models, and customers get to search over thousands of models available.

Apart from providing a platform where creators can sell and customers buy their 3D models, Sketchfab also does other types of work. What we believe is a unique feature which makes Sketchfab stand out is their market-leading 3D viewer for the web.

Sketchfab specializes in creating besopoke, on demand software which enables the custom configurations of cars, furniture, shoes and so on. Some of the brands Sketchfab works with include Porsche, HP, Nike, and many others.

Finally, now let’s talk about car models on Sketchfab. Before we express our thoughts of the models, it makes sense to mention there are all sorts of formats available: FBX, OBJ, 3DS, MAX, C4D, BLEND and GLTF.

The first thing we noticed by looking at the car models available on Sketchfab is their special visual appearance. Whereas other sites provide realistic looking models, Sketchfab also does that, but its models remind us of high quality games. Lots of cars have dust and rust on them, which is cool. It’s definitely something very unique.

Also, there’s a plenty of cool vehicles to choose from, such as the heavy duty pick up truck shown above.

Site: Sketchfab

Cost: File prices range from $3 to $500+

Feature image source: BMW