# 3D Valley

> Free AI 3D model generator and seamless texture generator, CC0 3D models and textures, and browser tools that repair, convert and check 3D files.

3dvalley.com has published 3D models, textures and tutorials since 2003.

## Live now

The site has two libraries (find) and one set of tools (do).

- /3d-models, /3d-models/{category}: free CC0 3D models from Kenney, KayKit,
  Poly Haven and ambientCG, hosted here and searched by words and meaning.
  Every model is one GLB in metres, +Y up, standing on the ground; kit
  pieces (roads, dungeons, towns) are grouped by kit so a game keeps one
  style. A model opens straight into the viewer, Remesh, Reduce or Retexture.
- /textures, /textures/{category}: seamless CC0 PBR materials from Poly
  Haven, ambientCG, cgbookcase and TextureCan (wood, stone, brick, metal,
  fabric, ground, glass, concrete, tiles), downloadable here at 1K and 2K.
- HDRIs from Poly Haven and Open HDRI are in the same library, through the
  API below.

Tools are grouped by job, one window per group with a tab per tool; a
model or photo opened on one tab stays open on the next.

### /tools/create: make a model or a material

- /tools/create/image-to-3d: a photo of one object becomes a textured GLB
  with PBR materials, from TRELLIS.2 on Hugging Face ZeroGPU (free, no
  sign-up) in about a minute. Download as GLB, OBJ or a millimetre-scaled STL. "Repair for
  printing" hands the model to Repair, which patches it and, when that is not
  enough, rebuilds it as one sealed, manifold solid.
- /tools/create/text-to-3d: the same from a sentence, painted first as a
  studio photo with FLUX.2 klein.
- /tools/create/texture-generator: a description of a surface, or a photo of
  one, becomes a tileable PBR material (base colour, normal, height,
  roughness, metallic; the colour at 2048 px) in
  about twenty-five seconds; FLUX.2 klein paints a flat, evenly lit surface that tiles by
  construction (a photo keeps its own pixels and only its seams are repainted), and models
  trained on textures read the other maps in the same run.
- /tools/create/image-to-normal-map: normal, height, roughness and ambient occlusion maps from any photo,
  read by models trained on textures on a shared GPU (up to 1024 px); strength,
  occlusion and OpenGL or DirectX are then set in the browser.

### /tools/fix: make a model you have right

- /tools/fix/repair: closes holes (curved patches up to about half the
  model's size), merges duplicate vertices, fixes flipped faces and
  inside-out normals, drops loose fragments, with a before/after report.
  When overlapping parts or edges shared by three faces remain, "Make solid"
  rebuilds the model as one sealed solid. In the browser, no upload.
  Replaces Meshmixer (discontinued 2021) and Netfabb Basic.
- /tools/fix/remesh: new, clean quad or triangle topology at a target face
  count (2k-50k), with textures baked onto it: sealed into one surface,
  remeshed with QuadriFlow, unwrapped with xatlas, colour,
  metallic/roughness and a detail normal map baked from the original. In the
  browser, no upload, no limit; GLB with textures and OBJ with quads.
- /tools/fix/reduce: mesh simplification in the browser (meshoptimizer),
  keeping a GLB's textures, with the surface deviation measured.
- /tools/fix/compress: a smaller file with the same shape, in the browser:
  GLB cleanup, texture resizing, quantization and meshopt compression
  (typically 50-80% smaller); ASCII STL and PLY saved as binary; OBJ numbers
  trimmed.
- /tools/fix/retexture: new PBR textures (base colour, roughness, metallic)
  painted onto a model you already have from a reference image or a
  description (a render of the model, repainted in the described look, is
  the reference). Keeps UVs, size and position. TRELLIS.2's texturing
  pipeline on ZeroGPU, about half a minute; free daily, then credits.

### /tools/check: find out before you commit

- /tools/check/viewer: open an STL, OBJ, PLY, GLB or glTF, rotate it, read
  triangle count, dimensions, volume and surface area. The format is
  detected from the file. No upload.
- /tools/check/print-cost-calculator: what a 3D print costs to make and
  what to charge: filament, electricity, printer wear, failed prints, labour
  and markup, each shown as a line. Weight and time are typed from the
  slicer, read from G-code (PrusaSlicer, OrcaSlicer, Bambu Studio, Cura,
  Simplify3D), or estimated from a model at the intended print size (PLA,
  PETG, ABS, TPU, resin; infill share). With a model: watertight check,
  thinnest wall, overhangs past 45 degrees, bed contact and fit against
  common printer beds.

### /tools/convert

- /tools/convert and /tools/convert/{a}-to-{b} for the common pairs of stl,
  obj, ply, glb and gltf: geometry is kept exactly, materials and textures
  are dropped. Includes unit scaling, because glTF is metres by convention
  while slicers read millimetres, which is why a converted GLB usually prints
  1000x too small.

## API and MCP server, for agents

- MCP server (streamable HTTP): https://3dvalley.com/mcp. Claude Code:
  claude mcp add --transport http 3dvalley https://3dvalley.com/mcp
  Tools: search_assets, get_asset, generate_model, edit_model,
  generate_texture, get_job, upload_file, account. Library search needs no
  account; generation signs in through OAuth and uses the website's credits.
  Setup for Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, VS Code and Windsurf:
  https://3dvalley.com/mcp-server
- REST API: https://3dvalley.com/api/v1. Docs: https://3dvalley.com/docs/api
  (Markdown: https://3dvalley.com/docs/api.md), OpenAPI 3.1:
  https://3dvalley.com/api/v1/openapi.json.
- GET /api/v1/assets: free CC0 models, textures and HDRIs, searched by
  meaning and keyword, filtered by size in metres, triangles, maps and
  resolution. Every mirrored model is a GLB in metres, +Y up, origin at the base.
- POST /api/v1/jobs: image to 3D, text to 3D, retexture, remesh, PBR
  textures (credits); repair, reduce, compress, convert, normal map (free).
  Idempotency-Key required, so retries never charge twice. Price list:
  GET /api/v1/tools.

## Blog and tutorials

- /blog/what-is-retopology: What is retopology, and when automatic is enough. Retopology rebuilds a messy mesh as clean, even quads. Why models need it, manual versus automatic, the tools in Blender and beyond, and where they fail.
- /blog/what-is-a-normal-map: What is a normal map, and why is it purple?. A normal map fakes bumps without adding polygons. How its colours encode direction, OpenGL versus DirectX, normal versus bump, and how to make one.
- /blog/how-image-to-3d-works: How image to 3D works, and why the back is a guess. One photo in, a textured mesh out in about half a minute. What happens in between, what the model cannot know, and the photo that gives it a chance.
- /blog/best-ai-3d-model-generators: Best AI 3D model generators in 2026, compared. Meshy, Tripo, Rodin, Hunyuan3D, TRELLIS.2 and Stable Fast 3D compared by input, output, price and licence, so you can pick the right one for your job.
- /blog/what-is-a-pbr-material: What is PBR? PBR textures, map by map. PBR, physically based rendering, describes a surface in five maps: colour, bumps, shine, metal. What each PBR texture does, shown on a real brick set.
- /blog/why-your-glb-prints-tiny: Why a converted GLB prints 1000 times too small. The most common failure between a generated model and a printer is not the mesh. It is the number 1000, and it lives in the file format.
- /blog/watertight-manifold-explained: Non-manifold geometry and watertight, explained. Non-manifold geometry, watertight and manifold: every slicer error uses the words and none explains them. Three pictures, and what repair does about each.
- /tutorials/photo-to-3d-print: Image to 3D print: how to 3D print a picture. Turn a picture of an object into a sealed STL at the size you want, and know the filament cost and the printer it fits before you slice.
- /tutorials/repair-a-broken-stl: How to fix an STL file that will not slice. Holes, flipped faces, loose fragments, overlapping parts: choose how far the repair goes, watch it run, and see every patch it made before you download.
- /tutorials/normal-map-from-a-photo: How to make a normal map from a photo. Turn a photo of a surface into normal, height, roughness and occlusion maps, read by AI on our GPU in seconds.
- /tutorials/reduce-polygons-for-games: Decimate in Blender, or reduce polygons online. Cut a heavy mesh down with Blender's Decimate modifier or in your browser: which mode to use, how far to go, and how to keep the shape and the textures.
- /tutorials/generated-model-into-blender: Take a generated model into Blender, Unity or Unreal. A generated GLB opens in Blender, Unity, Unreal and Godot. Set the origin, get clean quads if you will edit it, and fix the setting each engine trips on.

## Contact

hello@3dvalley.com