There is a new massive resource for game developers seeking free 3D models, Objaverse. Objaverse is a gigantic dataset of 3D models, mostly sourced from Sketchfab, under a variety of Creative Commons licenses. While this dataset is primarily aimed at training AI, it also serves as a useful resource for game developers.
Details of Objaverse from their blog:
Recent advancements in computer vision and natural language processing were made possible by the availability of massive datasets. However, existing 3D datasets, such as ShapeNet, are limited in scale and diversity, consisting of only 50,000 objects. In response, we on the PRIOR team at AI2 have developed Objaverse, a vast dataset with nearly 1 million annotated 3D objects, complete with descriptive captions, tags, and animations. This new dataset’s potential is vast and has already been demonstrated through the generative modeling of video-game-ready 3D assets and through the training of household robots to understand objects as described by natural language. Objaverse provides researchers with an incredible opportunity to benefit from an extensive and diverse 3D dataset with the potential to impact research progress across domains.
In total, Objaverse assets were designed by over 150K artists which makes this dataset large and diversely sourced. Assets not only belong to varied categories like animals, characters, and vehicles, but also include interiors and exteriors of large spaces that can be used, for example, to train robotic agents. Moreover, the diversity in the visual appearance of the 3D objects is vast, including objects that are high poly, scans, point clouds, and that support physically based rendering.
Built on top of the Objaverse, but also including other free 3D model sources, such as free assets on the Unity Asset Store, there is Asset Ovi (link below), an alternative 3D object search engine.
Key Links
You can see the huge collection of free 3D models in the Objaverse in the video below, as well as a quick look at Asset Ovi in action as well.