The first 3D scans captured include MV Spartan, the only surviving Scottish-built ‘puffer’ the 1898 built SY Carola and the 1898 RNLB Jane Anne, a rare surviving example of a double-ended, self-righting lifeboat which is of huge importance to the Museum’s local community of Irvine. The Scottish Maritime Museum, which is based in Irvine, Ayrshire, has shared 3D models and 360° virtual tours of almost 50 of Scotland’s most important historic vessels, maritime artefacts and shipbuilding tools on Sketchfab, the world’s largest platform for shared 3D content. The Smithsonian has developed a specialised glTF vendor extension, but with this new agreement, the museum will engage directly with Khronos and build a glTF-based open source tool chain for scalability and longevity. An open standard developed by Khronos, glTF minimises both the size of 3D assets and the runtime processing needed to unpack and use those assets.
To distribute their massive gallery of media and data, the Smithsonian is offering a download option for their 3D models in glTF™, a royalty-free specification for the efficient transmission and loading of 3D scenes and models by applications. Working with Khronos, the Smithsonian publicly launched their Open Access initiative in February, which included the release of approximately 2.8 million 2D images and 3D models into the public domain with the internationally recognised Creative Commons Zero (CCO) license.Īdditionally, a variety of platforms will be launched to make its collection media, collections data, and research data available for educational and research endeavours, creative reuse, computational analysis and innovative explorations. The last two also sell 3D models, making our overall list of the best websites for 3D models.Īt no cost, explore thousands of high-quality 3D models suited for professionals, whether a game developer, graphic designer, or artist looking for creative inspiration.
The creative possibilities are endless with the variety of 3D models offered at Free 3D, Archive 3D, NASA 3D, Artist 3D, TurboSquid and CG Trader.
After examining the nature of the free 3D model resources available to download from the web, these eight archives exist as the best online resources for free high-quality 3D models.