Developed by Dassault Systèmes, CATIA is an industry-acclaimed 3D modeling software that provides solutions for CAD, CAM, and CAE. With its sophisticated capabilities and tools, CATIA is widely used across a myriad of industries for the design of parts, assemblies, and other products. In the course of design, designers sometimes download 3D CAD models for use in their designs.
You may wonder why there is a need to download a model when you can just design it using the program. Well, these models save you a lot of design time and stress needed to make designs from scratch. Take for example, an architectural designer designing a building. Instead of having to design minor properties like doors and furniture, they can just download and face the main structural and architectural design. Also, with a program as complex as CATIA, beginners would surely have a hard time getting a grip of creating complex designs, and so may need a sample model for reference and practice.
There are a lot of websites online where you can find CATIA 3D models for free or for sale. In this article, we would be listing 13 sites with free CATIA models for downloads. The models are in CATPart, CATProduct, and other native file formats in CATIA. You should note that this article is not a comparison article, and so the websites are not listed in any order.
Table of Contents
TraceParts
Starting our list is one of the top 3D digital content providers in the world of engineering. TraceParts has a design library of over 100 million free models consisting of 2D drawings, 3D CAD models, and technical data for downloads in a variety of file formats for different software applications including AutoCAD, BricsCAD, Inventor, Solidworks, and of course, CATIA. In the library, the parts are grouped into different classifications including mechanical, BIM components, manufacturing, materials handling, and civil engineering. To find your model, you can either select from the categories, or use the search bar at the top of the screen. When you find the model, there’s an option where you select the software which you would be importing it into; in this case, CATIA.
Cad Crowd
Cad Crowd is an online CAD service provider for hiring qualified freelance CAD designers, participating in design contests, creating models, rendering, and other services. In addition to these services, you will also find thousands of free models for downloading and a popular blog where helpful CAD articles are posted.
In the 3D model showcase, you can either select your models by categories such as 3D modeling design, architecture, product design, and patent services, or by selecting from a plethora of software formats including 3ds, Revit, AutoCAD, Inventor, and CATIA file formats. There’s also a search bar for the models and other web content.
GrabCAD
This website is considered as one of the largest CAD communities with over 7.5 million members comprising engineers, professional designers, manufacturers, students, and other CAD users alike. GrabCAD has a library of over 4 million free CAD files for downloads. Asides from the free models, they also offer 3D printing services, a few CAD collaboration solutions (GrabCAD workbench), CAD challenges where you can win awards showcasing your design skills, and an online resource with tutorials. In terms of making navigation easy, GrabCAD did a perfect job. You can make findings from categories like agriculture, aerospace, computer, technology, and others or by software format. There are over 40 formats for you to select from including CATIA’s formats. Registration is needed to begin downloading.
CGTrader
CGTrader is a virtual market place with 3,000,000+ members in their community and over 1 million models in the display. Here you can buy and sell professional 3D models, find 3D design jobs, and hire freelancers, and find 3D print models. They also feature CGTrader enterprise, where members can transform their 2D product images into photo-realistic 3D models for AR and other 3D customer experiences. In this website, the 3D models are divided into 3D print models, PBR models, low-poly models, discounted models, and importantly, free 3D models. The models are available in IGES, IDW, STEP, CATPart, CATProduct, and many others. To gain from the collection of models, you just have to join the community by registering first.
PARTcommunity
The next website on our list, PARTcommunity, is one with a very straightforward, easy-to-use interface. The 3D models there are both user-contributed and supplier catalogs. From the home screen, you would find tabs namely community, 3D CAD catalogs, 3D share, make or buy, news, contact, and support. Under the community a plethora of party designs, both user-contributed and supplier contributed, are displayed for download for different platforms such as Autodesk Inventor, Solidworks, CATIA, and others.
You would have to be a member of the community to start downloads by registering for free. As there are a lot of supplier catalogs, users can search for models by either their product name or order number in the search tab. PARTcommunity further features filters such as by standards and catalogs and is classified in categories like architecture assembling equipment, automotive, and others.
Thomas Network
Thomas Network is a 3D content provider with a database of 500,000+ supplier profiles, thousands of useful articles, tutorials, and industrial products. They also offer a file CAD collection of over 10 million models of industrial parts.
To find the collection, select CAD models under the supplier tab to view the models. There, you will find a plethora of models that are compatible with all major CAD applications including CATIA. In the search bar provided, you can either search models by post name or even by the catalog company name. The models are further displayed under categories.
3D ContentCentral
With a simple aesthetic interface and offering a high number of services for free, 3D ContentCentral has amassed over 2 million CAD users in its community. These users can upload models, download free 3D models (user-contributed and supplier certified parts and assemblies), 2D blocks, and use the other library features. For the easy location of 3D models, the website provided a find tab where you can search categories (bearings, hammers, automotive, fans) and search by their suppliers. The models in this library are in Solidworks, AutoCAD, Inventor, CATIA, and other file formats. All you need is to head to the site, register, and start downloading.
Sketchfab
Sketchfab is an all-in-one online 3D content service provider with over 3 million members for the buying and selling of models. This website offers a universal 3D/virtual reality viewer which works in all browsers and operating systems, a powerful 3D editor with standard features, and a library of millions of models for sale and free. In the library, you can choose models from plenty of categories and apply filters like featured, where you see downloadable, animated, staff picks, and, sound; sort by; and dates. These models have formats for 3ds, blender, unity, CATIA, and other software. Also, you would have to be a member to download from their free models’ library.
3DExport
The next website, 3DExport, is basically an online market for buying and selling 3D CAD models, print models, and textures. They have about 238,000 models with over 5,000 of them being free. Asides from the sale of models, the website also offers tutorials in game dev, 3D designing, and CAD. There is a search tab provided at the top. Furthermore, the models are categorized into buildings, jewelry, miscellaneous, cookware, and others. The models are available for download in CATPart, CATProduct, and other file formats.
3DCADbrowser
This is another website that has a deceptively simple interface. 3DCADbrowser is a 3D model exchange resource where you can download polygon mesh models and 3D CAD solid objects. Surfing through the 3D models’ library, you would find 21000+ models with over 850 of them being free. The models are in different popular software formats such as Solidworks, AutoCAD, SLT format, and most importantly, CATIA. They are also grouped in various categories like aircraft and automotive. For the seamless location of models, there is a search tab provided. Something specific about this website is that you have to upload a model before you are able to download it. This is to help increase the number of available models.
Autodesk Online Gallery
No doubts that the industry-acclaimed computer-aided design giants-Autodesk would have something for this list. Autodesk Online Gallery is a platform where the user community comes to share their models for viewing, reviewing, and downloading. In the gallery, you would find over 18000 free mussels. It also features a wide selection of filters to aid more refined search results. Such filters are by industry, by category, and used products. You would have to register (for free) with Autodesk’s community. When this is done, just hit the download button, after which you would be given various file types, including CATIA’s to choose from.
Thingiverse
Thingiverse has one of the largest communities for the sharing of user-created CAD designs. It has over 1.5 million models in various formats compatible with different programs, including CATIA uploaded by the community users for free downloads. The models include both general 3D models and 3D print models.
Before being granted access to the downloads, you would have to register with Thingiverse. As a member, you can also upload your own model, create remix or old designs, share design ideas, and many others. The models in the library are categorized into art, gadget, 3D printing, going, household, and others. There is a search bar for easy location of models where you can also search by collection created by particular designers.
CADdetails
This website offers design industry professionals such as architects and engineers with high-quality building product documents to help in their design. There you will find 3D models, BIM objects, i-drop-enabled CAD drawings, product photographs, PDF product brochures, and others. CADdetails has a very straightforward interface with easily accessible tools. To find the free 3d model library, go to the navigation tab at the top of the screen where you’d see five tabs; CAD drawings, BIM models, project gallery, spec green, and blog. Click on BIM models. There, you will find over a thousand free 3D models for download in a plethora of CAD formats including the CATIA format. To locate models, you can use the search bar provided or check the models from a plethora of categories. In order to gain access to all of CADdetails contents, you would need to register and log in.
