Rendering for Architects: Most Helpful 2D and 3D Resources on the Web

You can not get enough cutout people or 3D models and textures for your renders. Yet, spending more that 20 minutes Googling images for a specific texture or 2D people can become a breaking point for many. Any way to save time in this field is a big advantage, especially for students in school. The thing is, there are a lot of free resources online that have already put in the hard work so that you don’t have to. Many of these sites were life savers going through architecture school.

Below are some of our favorites websites containing free cutouts and 3D models and textures. Some of these resources made the list because of their clear organization of the information. Often, there are very specific demands of a project or client that require lots of time online searching. We are always looking for more resources so if there are any that we missed, send us an email or leave a comment. You can never have enough entourage!

Free 2D People , vegetation, vehicles, and more..

• Escalatina –Database for Latin-American architects to populate their renders with local figures
• Nonscandinavia – Free Hi Res 2d Cutout people from around the world
• Cut Out Life – Database of render people of various ethnicities
• Cut Out People – Free cut out people, animals, transport, nature and objects
• Skalgubbrasil – Database for Latin-American architects to populate their renders with local figures.
• Skal Gubbar -Library of free high resolution cutout images of people
• Mr. Cutout – Database of render people, vegetation, vehicles, objects and more.
• CadTutor – Free collection of images, trees, people, skies and more.
• Flyingarchitecture – V-Ray textures which include bump and displacement maps.
• Designfreebies – Free high resolution photos of skies, clouds, sunsets and much more.
• Immediate Entourage – Such a great site to find a large collection of cutout people.
• XOIO AIR – Large collectionof office scenes, coffee scenes, people scene from above, people scene from below, etc.
• Gobotree – A large and growing library of free images and cutouts created by the people at Vyonyx
• CutOutTrees - A large collection of cut out trees

Free 3D Models and Textures

• Onecommunityglobal – a list of the most realistic plants optimized for SketchUp
• Coalesse – free furniture models for non-commercial use.
• cgtrader.com – Huge collection of excellent quality 3D models, free and paid for
• Hdri-Skies.com – Good collection of free HDRI sky maps in 4K resolution
• TonysTextures – 4000 free textures and several tutorials and other freebies for architectural visualization.
• Swtexture – Free high quality wood texture
• Archive 3D – Large collection of free 3D models
• 3Dup.com – Free Grasses and weed models in 3ds, very useful!
• Bricks’n’Tiles – Design Photo-realistic textures for high quality 3D content
• CGDigest – Selection of models from furniture to transport and electronics
• Turbosquid Free – Loads of good quality free models
• CG Textures – The worlds largest free texture site
• Archi-Vision Studio – Watercolor entourage images (skies,trees, bushes, people and cars)
• 3dmd.net – Free textures for 3D artists
• 3Dmodelsharing – Free library once you register, various file types
• Archweb – Free cad blocks and textures
• HDRI-Hub – Small collection of free HDRI skies.
• Gtrove – Small collection of free HDRI’s
• NoEmotion HDR’s – Free collection of  day, evening and night HDRI’s
• Krost Office Furniture – Free collection of SketchUp models
• SketchUpTexture – Growing collection of free good quality models and textures
• Knoll Office Furniture – Free SketchUp models…100’s of them
• 3drender.co.uk – Some free samples and models
• Textures Forrest – High resolution free textures
• DesignBeep – Collection of high quality and free brick textures
• High Resolution Textures – Free Textures, game textures, 3D textures, design resources
• Texturemate – Free textures, brushes and patterns
• carbodydesign.com – Free 3D car models various formats, some SketchUp models
• BIMstop.com – Free models, but you need to register first
• SteelSelect.com – Free SketchUp Component library for eaves guttering
• Landscapeforms – SketchUp library of 3D models
• Render Textures – Seamless diffuse, bump and displacement maps
• OpenFootage – HDRI panorama’s and more
• Graphic Mania – High quality old paper Photoshop textures
• Grunge Textures – High quality textures, metal, brick, concrete, stone, asphalt, wood and more
• Smartibl – Some HDRI’s and other goodies
• Naldzgraphics – Free high quality wood textures,200+
• Designmoo – Free PSDs, vectors, textures, patterns, fonts, and more
• LeMog – Free texture library (French)
• CadYou – Free 3D models textures and Cad Blocks
• Vyonyx – Cutout people, trees, textures and tutorials
• Archiforge – Textures and CAD library
• 3D Warehouse – Huge collection of free 3D SketchUp Models
• Appiani – Free 3D library and textures

[via Arch2o]