For studios selling a library
Selling my 3D models to AI buyers: who takes a whole library
Updated
A studio with years of models has two kinds of AI buyer to think about: those that license from the people who made the models, and those competing with a library of their own.
Ask about my 3D models 3 of the 16 platforms we read can already train on what users put in. Tell us where your models live and we will write back about your library.
Only a few take models from their makers
Of the 8 organisations on our buyer board, 2 take 3D models from the people who made them. Shutterstock says its 3D datasets are "rights-cleared and contributor-permissioned for AI training and commercialization", and its Data Partner Network invites content owners to license a library while they "Retain ownership and control". Protege works with data and content providers by industry, spatial and physical data among them.
Several sell libraries they built themselves
CGAxis licenses a catalogue it has built in house since 2008 and warrants that it owns what it licenses. A23D says every asset in its library was made by its in-house artists. CGTrader's Modelry makes new models to a buyer's specification, with AI usage rights in every licence. These are the libraries a studio's own models are priced against.
Check your marketplaces before a buyer does
A buyer will ask whether any of your models were already licensed for training. On our board CGTrader trains on listed products unless they carry a No AI licence, and TurboSquid's content is in the dataset behind Shutterstock's 3D generator with NVIDIA, with an opt-out added in March 2023.
Source: 3D marketplace and tool terms
Who owns the studio's models
In the UK the author of a work is its first owner, but a work made by an employee in the course of employment belongs to the employer unless agreed otherwise (section 11 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988). Models made by freelancers start with the freelancer as their first owner under the same section.