My hobby of customizing Marvel Comics and X-COM miniatures has also been recently converted to the use of new technologies in the last year, including 3D printing.
I consider 3D printing a process that is not recent in terms of technological development but certainly recent in terms of accessibility to all large-scale consumers.
I mean in terms of costs, efficiency and reliability of the hardware and ease of use of the software that manages the 3d printers.
To create increasingly particular, different, always new and original miniatures, I had to undertake a long journey of studying what was available in the Net. I looked for the best free sites where you can download and upload 3D files.
Today I wish to share with you two important concepts for those that are approaching 3D for the first time:
1-what to search online: that is, what to type on Google and how to search.
2-what I found online, namely the best 5 sites of 3D files sharing (maybe 6).
What to look for, online.
Start from the Google search engine by typing for example: "warrior stl free" if you want to search for a figure of a warrior in stl format that can be downloaded for free or for a fee: "warrior stl".
But you need to search through the "images" section of Google because you always have a preview of the file and avoid navigating in vain.
STL is a very widespread extension of 3D files, the most widespread and ready for printing.
Other extensions for the same search can be: FBX, OBJ and DAE. Less user friendly are all the others like MAX, MAP, DAZ etc.. etc..
Let's see in detail:
-STL is the easiest to handle. the most widespread but it is rigid in the sense that it does not offer the possibility of customization.
-FBX is typical of Autodesk, it is very widespread, very rigid, it must be converted to STL but this is easy: just search on Google for "from FBX to STL" and you will find at least 3 types of online converters, fast, reliable and free.
-DAE is not very widespread, it is flexible and must be converted to STL (with the same methods as FBX but writing "from DAE to STL; it is widely used to generate video game characters so if you are looking for a rare character or object and present in a video game it is likely that the DAE will give you unexpected satisfactions that you will not find with STL or with FBX. The rule also applies here: search for "warrior DAE".
-OBJ is my favorite: it is widespread, very flexible, you don't need to convert it to stl to process it. The characteristic of OBJs is that they are STLs that have objects that can also be eliminated from the initial figure. For example, a Thor in STL you will print as it is, while a Thor in OBJ is very likely to give you the possibility to decide whether or not to remove the hammer or the boots or the base, the background etc., in short, very very customizable!
If you have to search for it on Google images write: "warrior Obj" and if you have to convert it write on Google: "from OBJ to STL" the converters are the same for all the formats analyzed and I suggest the Anyconv one from Anycubic.
What I found online.
During your research in internet you will be inundated with offers, most of which will be pay to download ones, even if the website page declares they are for free.
99% of the sites that are titled "the best 5 search engines for free 3D files" actually live on advertising and little money from the producers of 3D files for which they are enslaved. No sense from these sites for those who want our hobby to be for free, as everything online should be!
To avoid wasting months of searching as I did, I'm sharing here the best, really best, 5 free, really free, sites that you should have stored in your favorites navigation bar, and you won't need any other! Skif promise!!
1-Ameede basic level: go to https://www.ameede.net/ and give vent to your creativity. Almost all STL, with some OBJ, all free. Avoid the "low poly" which are low definition and go wild with the "search" button. Remember that Spiderman can often be "Man Spider" or "Spider Hero" etc. according to the level of fear of the infraction of copyrights of the uploader.
On Ameede you will find at least 10,000 3D objects for free, of which 2,000 are certainly collectible figures. The quality of Ameede's files ranges from very poor to good.
2-Yeggi intermediate level
The https://www.yeggi.com/ site is not a real site for downloading free 3D files but is a search engine dedicated to 3D files. Next to the "search" button in the "options" select only the "free" files and it will give you information on everything you are looking for for free, with an accuracy of 90% because some sites appear giving for free but they request money for downloads. Luckily there aren't that many.
Often Yeggi will take you towards Cults and Thingiverse which I'll talk about later.
3-Thingiverse intermediate level
In https://www.thingiverse.com/ the word free is the only one known. There are no paid files here, it's all free, and it's a great community that you should visit every day before washing your face at the morning! The quality of the files ranges from poor to very good depending on the user uploader. The site is updated daily. Here too you will find at least 2,000 figures to print for your joy, most of them different from those from Ameede.
In Thingiverse almost all files are STL.
4-Cults3D intermediate level
Cults3d should also become your daily bread. It is a very large community and here you find free but also paid files: just avoid them by filtering "free" in the search menu.
5-PSDLY expert level
Now... ...if the approximately 7,000 figures that you will find whitin Ameede, Thingiverse and Cults3D are not enough for you and if you want to raise your quality to the maximum level of your figures, then here is an unknown site, frequented by very few, which makes available among other things (given that it publishes figures but also manuals, prints, books on modeling, painting and sculpture techniques) the best figures available for free on the market.
This is https://www.psdly.com/ if you have seen the printable character of your dreams but it was only paid, perhaps you will find it here for free. This is the world of true quality free sharing. I don't know how long it will last, but the site is constantly updated and features figures of quality ranging from very good to excellent, rare and collectible. I think it has more than 1,000 that is fewer than other sites, but certainly of a quality that is not remotely comparable to any other. The figures are presented in various versions i.e. customizable and the user can decide which parts to aggregate and print depending on what he needs.
Extra level: The Model Resource
Separate mention goes to https://www.models-resource.com/ I told you about the .DAE files taken from video games. Well the DAE's of your life are here, all free and all of excellent workmanship.
I hope I have given you some good information, about those sites that are free from any economic interest, as for me this is just a hobby! And I think, I am certain that with these 6 sites you will no longer need to look elsewhere, at least for the next 5 years!!
Please note that this blog post is only intended for those that are searching the best places for sharing for personal use any 3D file.
From the mentioned sites, that I thank for their daily work and magnificent contribution to the world of 3d prints, you can download free thousands of premium quality graphics resources, mockups, videohive, templates, fonts, course, add-ons, web theme for personal use.
Those sites are still alive thanks to the contribution of internal advertisements, the work of the users that are uploading and last but not least any volunteer donation. Take this in mind.
If you have any other good site to share, leave it in the comments, thanks
Skif
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