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40 Amazing and Unique 3d Models which looks Like Real Photographs

Dustin Betonio — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 06:43:00 +0000

In 3D computer graphics, 3D modeling is the process of developing a mathematical representation of any three-dimensional surface of object (either inanimate or living) via specialized software. The product is called a 3D model. It can be displayed as a two-dimensional image through a process called 3D rendering or used in a computer simulation of physical phenomena. The model can also be physically created using 3D Printing devices.

Today 3d graphics is so popular that people’s life, especially entertainment started to go round it. 3D models are widely used by movies and video games as characters. Even the architecture industry now uses 3D model as the way of showing proposed structures. And in the world of designing, one great thing you can do to attract and put a touch of creativity is to use 3D as an element on their design. Many people are getting amazed on how detailed and realistic objects can be recreated and it is both inspiring and fun to investigate this area. In this article I will do a round up of unique and amazing 3d models looking like photos in real life. Enjoy!

1. EB-One

2. Audi TT Interior

3. Land Rover Encounter

4. Volkswagen Microbus

5. BMW 250tti

6. Spektrum XL13

7. Blue Wondering

8. Porsche 911 996

9. Scorbot

10. Housing Interior

11. Feminine Kitchen

12. Students Room

13. Luc Bégin

14. Heels

15. Casas do Forte

16. EVIL WITCH

17. Alexander Tomchuk

18. Open Green

19. FATJON’s performance

20. Thor, the son of Odin

21. Mach 5 Toy Model

22. Setra 700 Series

23. ‘Hawk’ Concept Vehicle

24. Truck

25. urz-t

26. Young girl

27. The last move

28. Summer at Noon

29. Westbound, With mail

30. Restaurant

31. Ingrid Bergman

32. Wolverine

33. Buzz

34. La Espera

35. Day of the Tentacles

36. Moe’s

37. Barack Obama

38. Cell

39. Benjamin Linus

40. Fortress Giant

Author : Dustin Betonio

Dustin Betonio is a Translation Management graduate at University of Mindanao. His earlier career was devoted on customer service outside the information highway. Currently studying Law in the same University.

40+Websites Providing Useful and Free 3D Models

Dustin Betonio — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 06:35:44 +0000

3D models can be really useful to kick start a modeling process, but where can you find well crafted high quality models to use? Models that other people have created can also be great for learning some new techniques and being inspired for creating your own creations. There is certainly a large demand for 3D models, and a several websites have surfaced to meet the demands.

Today, 3D models are used in a wide variety of industries. The movie industry uses them as characters and objects for animated and real-life motion pictures. The video game industry uses them as assets for computer and video games. The architecture industry uses them to demonstrate proposed buildings and landscapes through Software Architectural Models. The medical industry uses detailed models of organs. Finally it is quite common that 3D models are used in web designs main based on Flash technology. For this article I have compiled a list of more than 40 great websites that are providing free 3D models. Hope you find them useful and that you will leave a comment if there is a site I should to add to the list.

1. 3dM3

3DM3 has a large collection of free 3d models in addition to their tutorials.

2. 3D Total

3D Total provides free stuff on 3D model in categories of human characters, household, body parts, vehicles, weapons, alien characters, architecture, medieval, cartoon, star wars, scenes, animals, sci-fi, low-polu and mechaniods.

3. Archive3D.Net

Free 15000+ 3D models for download without registration required.

4. Rafeec

Rafeec Tech are called upon as one of the most prominent Heat Exchangers Drafting Services from India. Especially, Our 2D Heat Exchanger drafting services include: Assembly & every part detail and drafting service and Calculation include then various detail drawings and all kind of mechanical drawings process successfully. We can modify drawing or create new ones, to your standards and we use the latest CAD tools. Rafeec Tech provide high quality 2D mechanical Drafting in CAD as per clients’ requirements.

5. TurboSquid

TurboSquid is the largest library of 3D products in the world. They offes over 300 free 3D models for download.

6. 3DModelFree

Free 3D models download.

7. Google 3D Warehouse

The Google 3D Warehouse is a online repository of 3D models.

8. 3DXtras

3DXtras.com offers thousands of free 3d models to download in .MAX, .3ds and other formats, you may use these models freely in your own work as royalty free.

9. Artist-3D

Artist-3D has a large collection of free noncommercial 3D models.

10. Amazing3D

You may use these models (meshes) royalty-free in your own work to create 2D images, animations, print graphics or web graphics. You may also include them as part of your software package in a proprietary format with credits and written permission from Amazing 3D Graphics, Inc.

11. NASA 3D Model

These models are for anybody that uses a 3D software package. Most of the models are in the common .3ds format, which can be read by most 3D programs. Some models, however, are in their original .lwo, .fbx, or .obj formats to preserve details that would be lost in conversion.

12. DLegend

A collection of 3ds ,max ,prj and obj files for you to use in diffrent applications of 3d programs.

13. 3d Auto Club

14. CGI

All 3d models are free for any type of use (c/p). The version one is collection of very useful and handy 3d models in .3ds format.

15. DD-Freebies

16. WireCase

Download 3D models from a catalog of the highest quality online.

17. Exchange 3D

A community exchanging free 3d models for usage.

18. Adobe-Tools

Enchance the new 3d features of Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended version! Download free 3d models from Adobe-Tools.

19. 3D Plants

20. Mr Furniture

Over 5000 free 3D models for furniture, textures, CAD in .3ds, .max and .dxf.

21. 3Delicious

Delicious free 3d models.

22. ShareCG

Model formats: Max, 3ds, car, wire, jas, c4d, daz, dwg.

23. Archibase

Download Free 3D CAD models.

24. CG-Files

25. Top 3D Models

Download free 3D Models, no registration required, no email required, just click and download our free 3D models.

26. Oyonale

The objects are freely usable for your personal or commercial 3D art and animations. The 3D models are available in POV-Ray, Cinema 4D and/or Wavefront OBJ formats.

27. Infinitee-Designs

Free 3D Models for Autodesk Maya, 3D Studio Max and other 3D programs – Free models for beginners to advanced users of Autodesk Maya 3D animation and special effects software program.

28. Telias

Free the models is a site that offers royalty free 3d models in 3ds, bryce, poser, lightwave and md2 format. Also a great collection of textures to use in your favorite modeling and rendering program.
All the content is free for any use.

29.Sci-Fi 3D

The ultimate 3D Sci-Fi resources.

30. Altair Models

Download over 1500 high quality 3d model files free of charge. Most models are available in Max, Dxf, 3ds, Obj. 3D formats for Pc, Mac and Unix platforms. In this collection you can find cars, humans, ships, animals and much more.

31. Kit 3D

Kit3dmodels, a great collection of 3d furniture, lamps and accesories.

32. 3DAllusions

Free 3D models in diferent formats.

33. 3d Model Sharing

3DModelSharing.com is a showcase of CAD related media. 3DModelSharing invite you to browse through their library of hundreds of different CAD files.

34. 3d Content Central

3D ContentCentral® is a free service for locating, configuring, downloading, and requesting 3D parts and assemblies, 2D blocks, library features, and macros. Join an active community of 493,038 CAD users who share and download user contributed and supplier-certified 3D parts & assemblies, 2D blocks, library features and macros.

35. Great Buildings

The models range in detail from very simple formal massing models of just a few blocks, through basic interior/exterior spatial walkthrough models, up to detailed interior/exterior models complete with furnishings and landscaping.

36. 3D Valley

Model formats: Max, 3ds, mb, cob, obj

37. Rocky3d

Rocky3d specializew in providing the finest useful 3D models for your scenes and animations. They have thousands of models (many of which are FREE!) ranging from small but useful objects.

38. Large Geometric Models Archive

This site provides large models to researchers in computer graphics and related fields.

39. Model3D

A source of high quality 3D models and free section contains some models, which you can download gratis, they are free of charge.

40. Apollo Maximus

Free Poser Downloads include free 3D models, free Poser body morphs, free Poser face morphs, free poses, free 3D clothing library, free Poser python scripts, free Poser light sets, free Poser face room module, free Poser face poses, free Poser character poses, free figure texture maps, free clothing textures, & more.

41. 3DVIA

3DVIA is the newest of Dassault Systèmes’ 6 brands. Their mission is to extend 3D content creation and experience to new businesses and consumers with the goal of utilizing 3D as their common language.

42. Cadalyst

Cadalyst offers worlds largest selection of free 3D models, textures, tutorials, plugins an dupdates for 3D studio and lightwave 3D.

43. Digital Animators

A small archive of 3D models that Digital Animators has obtained over the years. Digital Animators has gone ahead and catagorized them by catagory for your visual preferences.

44. DMI Car 3D Models

Free 3D models for vehicles.

Author : Dustin Betonio

How to model a Steampunk Spacecraft with Blender 3D

Lars — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 16:17:34 +0000

This article has been extracted from this book: http://www.packtpub.com/blender-3d-2-49-incredible-machines/book“. It is a guest post by Pact Publishing covering concepts of Steampunkt and provide basics steps for modelling af Steampunkt spacecraft with the 3D modelling Tool Blender 3D. If you didn’t know it already Blender is the free open source 3D content creation suite, available for all major operating systems under the GNU General Public License. If you wan’t to try modelling yourself you can get Blender here. You can create very realistic scenes with Blender 3D and there are many interesting resources available Internet but in my opinion reading a good book on how to use this tools is recommended – especially if you want to get started using it or plan to learn new features the good old way that we all know simply works! A great thanks to Packt for providing a book and this article to us. Here another example of what you can do with Blender if your unsure of what it can do: Creating a Urban Stairway Scene – part 1

Lets get started

Before we actually begin working on the model, let’s make clear the difference between a regular spacecraft and a steampunk spacecraft. Although both of them are based on science fiction, the steampunk spacecraft has a few important characteristics that differ from a regular hi-tech spacecraft.

Imagine a world where the advances of science and machinery were actually developed centuries ago. For example, imagine medieval knights using hi-tech armor and destroying castles with rockets. It may sound strange, as the rockets have been made only for the army in the last century. What would a fighter jet look like in the Middle Ages? It would be a mix of steel, glass, and wood.

The steampunk environment is made out of these kinds of things, modern objects and vehicles produced and developed in a parallel universe, where those discoveries were made long ago.

The secret of designing a good steampunk vehicle or object is to mix the recent technology with the materials and methods available in past times, such as wood and bronze to make a space suit. If you need some inspiration to design objects like those, watch some recent movies that use a steampunk environment to create some interesting machines. But, to really get to the source, I do recommend that you read some books written by Jules Verne, who wrote about incredible environments and machines that dive deep into the ocean or travel to outer space.

The following image is an example of a steampunk weapon (Image credits: Halogen Gallery, licensed under Creative Commons):

Next is a steampunk historical character (Image credits: Sparr0, licensed under Creative Commons):

Here are a few resources to find out more about Steam Punk:

Steampunk at Wikipedia, with lots of resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk
Guide to drawing and creating steampunk machinery:
http://www.crabfu.com/steamtoys/diy_steampunk/
Showcase of steampunk technology:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Steampunk/

Spacecraft concept

Packt Publishing just published a book on how to model Incredible Machines with Blender 3D. Lets see how it’s done.

Now that we know how to design a steampunk machine, let’s discuss the concept of the steampunk spacecraft we are going to model. For this project, we will design a machine that mixes some elements of steel, but not those fancy industrial plates and welded parts. Instead, our machine will have the look and feel of a machine built by a blacksmith. As it would be really strange to have wooden parts for a spacecraft, we will skip or use this material only for the interior.

Other aspects of the machine that will help give the impression of a steampunk spacecraft are as follows:

Riveted sheets of metal
Metal with the look of bronze
Valves and pipes

With that in mind, we can start with this concept image to create our spacecraft:

It’s not a complete project, but we’re off to a great start with Blender and our use of polygons to create the basis for this Incredible Machine.

Project workflow

This project will improve our modelling and creating skills with Blender to a great extent! So, to make the process more efficient, the workflow will be planned as this would be done by a professional studio. This is the best way to optimize the time and quality of the project. It will also guarantee that future projects will be finished in the shortest timeframe.

The first step for all projects is to find some reference images or photos for the pre-visualization stage. At this point, we should make all important decisions about a project based only on your concept studies. The biggest amount of time spent on this type of project is with artistic decisions like the framing of the camera, type and color of materials, shape of the object, and environment setup.

All of those decisions should be made before we open Blender and start modelling because a simple detour on the main concept could result in a partial or total loss of all work.

When all of the decisions are made, the next step is to start modelling with the reference images we found on the Internet, or we can draw the references ourselves. The modelling stage involves the spacecraft and the related environment, which of course will be outer space. For this environment, Blender will help us design a space with nebulas, star fields, and even a glazing star. Right after the environment is finished, we can begin working with some materials and textures.

As the object has a complex set of parts, and in some cases an organic topology, we will have to pay extra attention to the UV mapping process to add textures. We’ll use a few tips when working with those complex shapes and topology to simplify the process.

What would a spacecraft be without special effects? Special effects make the project more realistic. The addition of a particle system enables the spacecraft’s engines to work and simulates the shooting of a plasma gun. With those two effects, we will be able to give dynamism to the scene, showing some working parts of the object. And, to finish things up, there is the light setup for the scene.

A light setup for a space scene is rather easy to accomplish because we will only have a strong light source for the scene, and not so much bouncing for the light rays. The goal for this project is to end up with a great space scene. If you already know how to use Blender, get ready to put your knowledge to the test!

Modelling, rendering, and animating realistic machines with Blender 3D
Walk through the complete process of building amazing machines
Model and create mechanical models and vehicles with detailed designs
Add advanced global illumination options to the renders created in Blender 3D using YafaRay and LuxRender
Create machines such as a handgun, a steam punk spacecraft, and a transforming robot

http://www.packtpub.com/blender-3d-2-49-incredible-machines/book

Building edges and planes for the spacecraft

The technique used to build this model is called edge modelling or poly modelling, which is a derivation of subdivision. In this type of modelling, we have to progressively create edges and faces to build the overall model, which will result in creating a full model. Even if it seems difficult and hard to complete, we have full control over the topology of the model with this type of modelling. It is very important to have control over the topology for models like machines, where the precision and organization of the vertices, edges, and faces can really matter.

The other important aspect of the project, if we look at the concept images, is the fact that this object is perfectly symmetrical, so we can build only half of the spacecraft and mirror the other part.

Creating the first section of the spacecraft

Open Blender and start a new model in top view, adding a mesh cube to the scene. This will be the object used to derive all other geometry for this first step of the spacecraft.

While in edit mode, select the bottom edge of the plane and with the E key extrude it four times.

The extrusions should follow the proportions shown in the following image:

The next step is to rotate the view. Without rotating the model with the middle mouse button, select only the faces pointed out in the following image:

Then, move them just a bit along the Z axis.

Change the selection mode to edge with the Ctrl+Tab keys, and choose the edges on the lower right side of the model. There, we will extrude the edges down the Z axis.

With the selection mode set to vertices, select only the small triangle created in the previous extrude. Triangular faces are harder to control and can mess up a mesh, but in this case, it won’t be a problem because no edge loop will be created at that point. When the three vertices are selected, press the F key to create a new face.

Now, we can begin creating the side part of the model that will connect down with the wing. Select the edges pointed out in the following image:

Then, extrude the edges four times in the Z direction.

Because a big part of the main body is beginning to appear, we can start making a few adjustments to the last extruded edges. Those edges are pointed out in the following image. To make the selection easier, just hold down the Alt key and click on one edge to select the full loop. If any extra edge gets into the selection, just click on it with the Shift key pressed to remove the edge from the selection. Each loop must be selected individually and moved a bit to the right along the X axis. This will create a small curvature on the side of the model.

Repeat the same process for the edges at the back of the model.

Modelling the wing

With the first part of the modelling created, we can now work on the wing modelling. The wing will be created from a series of extrusions coming from the side of the model, and the edges that we must select are pointed out in the following image:

Set the view to top and start a series of extrusions to create the mesh required for the wing. Four new extrusions will be needed.

With the base for the wing created, we will move a few vertices to shape the wing. Change the work mode to vertex, and move the vertices pointed out in the following image:

Those vertices were moved down in the Y axis.

Rotate the view to select the edges pointed out in the following image, and move them up in the Z axis. It will simulate a turbine air entry.

Modelling the front

The basis for the wing is created, so now we can move forward to the front of the spacecraft. To start modelling the front, select two edges located on the side of the wing, as shown in the following image:

With those vertices selected, extrude them three times.

If you have not yet saved the project, now would be a good time to do so.

To finish this part of the project, select only the two edges at the right side of the model, and extrude them along the X axis.

This will be the basis for the modelling of the cockpit.

Summary

In this article, we learned more about our second Incredible Machine. Our first step was to create a base mesh for the spacecraft, which can be detailed and improved later. So far, we’ve used edge modelling, deforming, and we’ve adjusted the shape of a model to get the shape of the object.

Here is a brief summary of what we have learned:

The definition of steampunk
The characteristics of a steampunk machine
How to contextualize a steampunk machine
What the project will look like
An overview of the workflow for a professional project
How edge modelling works
How to create a model from a single face
How to shape the model by transforming edges, vertices, and faces

Modelling, rendering, and animating realistic machines with Blender 3D
Walk through the complete process of building amazing machines
Model and create mechanical models and vehicles with detailed designs
Add advanced global illumination options to the renders created in Blender 3D using YafaRay and LuxRender
Create machines such as a handgun, a steam punk spacecraft, and a transforming robot

http://www.packtpub.com/blender-3d-2-49-incredible-machines/book

Blender resources and further reading

I thought that after trying out the steps provided by Packt that a few resources covering Blender would be interesting for you.

BlenderNation

An overview of everything Blender: development updates, new tutorials, artwork and community information. Updated daily.

blenderartists.org

One of the most active independent user sites, with excellent forums for support. (Previously elysiun.com)

CGTalk, Blender forum

CGTalk is one of the premier forums for creative computer graphics professionals and practitioners to share ideas and contribute.

Feeblemind

::feeblemind.org:: is a website dedicated to self-experimentation with Blender and sharing of tutorials, tips, hints and models mainly for begineers and/or enthusiasts, but also more seasoned blender-heads. Each article is both in french and english. You are invited to post your comments, your feedback matters.

Daniel Salazar (ZanQdo)

A place to get the latest Blender CVS builds the fast and easy way, keep track of them via “live bookmarks”

NaNo Prods

NaNo Prods is the Blender “Blue Project” community where Blenderheads can freely come and contribute to a great idea.
Want to know more ? Come and see by yourself ! ~8^}

Pete Trbovich (Hosiah)

My work using Blender, POVray, the Gimp, and other Linux tools. All images licensed freely to the general public for use as desktop backgrounds, inclusion with Linux distros, and other purposes! I add to it *daily*.

BlenderBlog

BlenderBlog contains news and links to tutorials, materials, textures, plugins, community sites and general information about learning and using Blender.

3Dlab (Dhia el khawaldeh)

It contains some good video tutorials gives some good knowledge in blender GE basics

GameBlender.org

Community for users of the Blender Game Engine. Forums for the GameBlender Community.
Game Demos, Tutorials, Textures, Free Models, and more available for browsing/download from GameBlender.org.

Star Trek: Blender

A site dedicated to Star Trek meshes in Blender, with over 25 high quality Star Trek ships so far, it keeps growing. There are also a lot of tutorials about Sci-Fi related effects in Blender as well as a gallery of things rendered in Blender.

Eternal Lands (Roja)

Eternal Lands is a free -open source client- MMORPG project. All of the 3d models and animations were made using Blender.

3d-synthesis.com

3D works made with Blender, tutorials, downloadable movies made with Blender, 2D works and watercolour.

excellentWhale’s hotkeys

Centralsource Blender Art Gallery

The new open gallery site, with a lot of recent Blender artwork.

Mud Puddle Gallery

A public gallery. Available for Blender users to upload images for showing at elysiun, #blenderchat, or any other blender site. Useful for people without webspace of their own.

Ingiebee.com

Ingie’s famous tutorial collection.

Are These Images Really 3D Animations?

Lars — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 23:00:29 +0000

This is a follow-up on 16 Scaringly Realistic 3D Animations – WOW where I promised more 3D goodies soon. 3D animators produce loads of truly stunning 3D images to satisfy our endless demands for better and more realistic 3D effects in games and films. Luckily 3D animators share and collaborate to get ideas, feedback etc. allowing all of us that have not learned to apply this kind of magic sitting in front of a computer to get a sneak peek on their creations… I browsed through loads of posts at zbrushcentral.com to find the best 3D creations for this post. Hope you will enjoy it and hopefully be inspired somehow.

Want try out some modelling yourself with a great free tool? See how here: How to model a Steampunk Spacecraft with Blender 3D

Gobelin by maddam

Sorry just had to start wit a picture of myself …

Adama Triptych

Stary piernik

Mage by Joel Mongeon

Realistic Women Head by Stubi

Bernadette by sdmolyne

Salvatore – The name of Rose by alancamara

Portrait Of Obama by luoqisheng

Warrior by AGONIST

Some work by bneall

only one should stand by ZhiHeng Tang

16 Scaringly Realistic 3D Animations – WOW

Lars — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 14:53:19 +0000

With the great tools we have available today (Maya, ZBrush, 3ds max etx.) talented and creative 3D animators can create more stunning and realistic 3D images than you may know. We have know for some time that the large film studios like fx pixar can turn the most far out and funny creatures into “living creatures” on the screen but they are not alone any more. The era where amateurs spent days on creating a sphere or rectangle with some very simple lightning on is over (I did try this years ago). Still I think creating the images I have found on cgsociety.org for this post is not easy to do at all! I also found that pixologic.com/zbrush/gallery is an awesome place to find inspiration. Deviant art 3-Dimensional Art category is also worth investigating. I’m going to do a post with some of the material from there soon.

Want try out some modelling yourself with a great free tool? See how here: How to model a Steampunk Spacecraft with Blender 3D