Having purchased a number of 3d models both professionally and personally - it’s just like any other asset you might need. They can be useful in games, as props in larger modeled scenes, and so on.

This article is mostly talking about assets used outside of printing or manufacturing, so it’s probably going to be closer to formats like OBJ or FBX.

You can almost always tell when a model was created with 3D AI tools. The topology is usually an absolute mess, and when you combine that with bad UV maps for textures, it practically becomes nightmare fuel.

https://www.cgtrader.com/3d-models/electronics/other/vintage...

yes. people who are making content professionally need to make sure they actually have a license for the content they use. model, sound effect, whatever.

the best way to do that is either create it yourself or buy it from place like cg trader that gives you a license.

does everyone do that? no im sure not. but for any reasonably sized company the risk vs cost is just not worth it.

I have, but only a few times. For one-offs, it's been when I've come across a paid model that included a particular technique or mechanism involved that I really liked and hadn't seen before. In those cases, it's worth the cost just to get a working example of it I can pick apart, rather than flail around trying to replicate it from scratch.

The other time was paying for a subscription to this[1] Thangs profile, which was more or less the same. I love making stuff using these techniques, and having access to all of his paid models really helped me get familiar with it using working examples. I mainly make my own designs now instead, but still pay for the subscription out of pure appreciation.

[1] https://thangs.com/designer/kaizen3dprints

I bought an STL for a very specific use-case because of how niche it was and how few purchases the creator had... and because I couldn't find anything similar enough elsewhere, but still I did buy one.

Usually FBX, USD, or GLTF files, if you’re in the gaming industry. AI models rarely do well there because deliberate topology matters for optimization and animation.

I buy 3D assets. I bought some just recently. AI assets are currently bad. They look ok but the topology is awful