D5 Works: a 3D marketplace that charges you 0% commission
D5 Render developer Dimension 5 has launched D5 Works, an interesting new online marketplace for architectural 3D assets that charges sellers 0% commission.
According to Dimension 5: “Creativity grows best in a healthy ecosystem. Instead of taking commissions, we give that value back to the people who make it possible — the creators.”
Below, you can find our FAQs for anyone interested in selling their content through D5 Works.
What is D5 Works?
D5 Works is a new online marketplace for stock architectural assets: primarily 3D models, but also materials.
The models range from complete urban environments, buildings and architectural interiors to individual 3D models of furniture, home furnishings, plants, humans, animals, and vehicles.
While the target market is clearly architectural visualization, the assets could potentially be used in a range of other contexts, including motion graphics, VFX, animation and game development.
At the time of writing, the site hosts just under 45,000 assets, around a third available for free.
D5 Render’s launch trailer for D5 Render 3.0. You can see the section on D5 Works, its new online marketplace for architectural 3D assets, at 03:25 in the video.
How does D5 Works relate to D5 Render?
Although it’s still officially in beta, Dimension 5 has now begun to promote D5 Works publicly, including in the launch video for D5 Render 3.0, the latest version of the renderer.
The two are closely integrated – D5 Works includes the content from D5 Render’s asset library – and users with paid Pro subscriptions to D5 Render get some of the content for free.
However, anyone with a free D5 account can use the site: either to buy assets or to upload and sell their own content.
Will D5 Works always charge 0% commission on assets sold through the marketplace?
For sellers, the main attraction of D5 Works is that it’s free to use: Dimension 5 charges 0% commission, rather than the 30-50% rate common on other major online marketplaces.
When we asked Dimension 5 whether that would change once D5 Works becomes established, the company told us that the 0% rate “will remain as it is, at least in the foreseeable future”.
While that isn’t an absolute guarantee, the site functions as a library of stock content for D5 Render, so it is in Dimension 5’s interests to make it as appealing as possible to creators.
Can you sell stock assets for other software on D5 Works?
Although Dimension 5 recommends that creators convert assets sold on D5 Works to D5 Render’s native D5A and D5M file formats, it isn’t mandatory: you can also upload files in standard formats including FBX, OBJ and 3DS, plus 3ds Max and SketchUp scenes.
You can also set your own prices, although Dimension 5 recommends that you use its standard prices, which range from $4.90 to $6.90, and “reserves the right to adjust model pricing”.
Assets are reviewed manually before going live on the site, albeit for technical quality rather than copyright infringement.
While Dimension 5 says that it does take action when “potential infringement is identified”, if someone else has uploaded your models without permission, you have to report it manually.
Does D5 Works permit your content to be used to train generative AI models?
Although D5 Render includes AI features, uploaded assets are not used to train them: Dimension 5 told us that “content on D5 Works is not used for machine learning purposes”.
The license agreement also forbids buyers from using downloaded assets to train AI models, “unless expressly permitted by the creator”.
Dimension 5 told us that was still deciding on whether to permit sale of AI-generated models on D5 Works. See how its stance on AI content compares to other online marketplaces here.
Read the online documentation for D5 Works
Read the terms of service for D5 Works
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