Challenges

CGTrader is announcing the Botanical Designs 3D Challenge, inviting 3D artists from around the world to bring nature to life through 3D art.

We’re celebrating the beauty and diversity of plants – from realistic trees and flowers to creative botanical concepts. Whether you create detailed natural models, science-inspired designs, or stylized art, this challenge is your opportunity to showcase your technical skill and creativity.

Prize Pool

The total reward is $1,800 in cash prizes, split between the top entries:

• 1st place – $600
• 2nd place – $400
• 3rd place – $300
• 4th place – $200
• 5th place – $100
• Community Favorite – $200

Timeline

• Challenge open: November 3 – December 31
• Winners announced: January 7, 2026

How to Enter

1. Upload your original plant-themed 3D model to CGTrader.
2. Tag your submission with botanical-challenge to officially join.
3. Submit your model in .glb and .fbx formats.
4. Include PBR textures for full material detail.
5. Ensure your model meets the CGTrader Standard (100%) and is submitted under the Royalty Free license.

What You Can Create

You can submit any plant-themed 3D model, including but not limited to:

• Full plants (trees, flowers, bushes, vines, grasses, herbs)
• Plant parts (leaves, stems, roots, seeds, fruit, blossoms)
• Plant systems (root systems, cross-sections, growth stages)
• Stylized or fantasy plants (imaginary flora, alien vegetation, magical plants)
• Scientific and educational models (plant anatomy, molecules, biological structures)
• Nature environments with vegetation (garden scenes, forest assets, indoor plant setups)

The wider the variety, the better – we welcome all creative approaches that connect to the botanical world.

Terms

• Entries must be original 3D designs created by the participant.
• Submissions must reflect the botanical theme, whether realistic, stylized, or conceptual.
• Each model must have .glb and .fbx formats, include PBR textures, comply with the CGTrader Standard (100%), and be available under the Royalty Free license.
• You may submit multiple entries, provided each meets all challenge requirements.
• If a previously uploaded model did not meet the CGTrader Standard, it can be resubmitted once it reaches 100%.
• Winners will be judged based on artistic quality, originality, technical execution, texture and material quality, overall presentation, and adherence to the theme.
• The Community Favorite will be chosen by public votes (hearts on the model page).

Showcase Your Work

Share your creations on social media with #CGTraderBotanicalChallenge to reach a wider audience and inspire other 3D artists.

The best 3D models will be featured on CGTrader’s blog and social media channels, showcasing outstanding creativity and craftsmanship from our community.

Design Challenges are back — and this time we’re celebrating the spookiest season of the year! With great excitement, we announce the Halloween 3D Print Challenge on CGTrader.

This October, we invite all 3D creators, makers, and hobbyists to design, 3D print, and share your most fun, spooky, or magical 3D print-ready models. Whether it’s a creepy decoration, a cute Halloween prop, or a bewitching gadget — this is your chance to showcase your imagination and 3D printing skills to the world.

We’ve seen a growing trend in the community: 3D printable models are more popular than ever, and Halloween is the perfect theme to bring creativity to life! This challenge is open to everyone, no matter your background — from experienced 3D designers to makers who simply love to experiment with their printers.

Prize Pool

The total reward is $1,800 in cash prizes, split between the top entries:

• 1st place – $600
• 2nd place – $400
• 3rd place – $300
• 4th place – $200
• 5th place – $100
• Community Favorite – $200

Timeline

• Challenge open: October 7 – November 5
• Winners announced: November 10

How to Enter

• Upload your original 3D print-ready model.
• Add at least one photo of your printed make.
• Tag your submission with halloween-challenge to join.

Terms

• Entries must be original 3D designs that are fully 3D printable.
• Each entry must include a photo of the physical print - make.
• Submissions must follow the Halloween theme.
• You can submit multiple entries, but each must follow the rules.

Winners will be judged based on creativity, printability, and presentation, while the Community Favorite will be chosen by public votes (hearts in the model page).

Feel free to share your entries on social media with #CGTraderHalloween and inspire other makers with your spooky creations! The best 3D print models will be featured on CGTrader’s blog and social media channels.

CGTrader 3D Printing Video Challenge

Announcing the CGTrader 3D Printing Video Challenge: Bring your favorite 3D models to life

In collaboration with our esteemed partners, Prusa and FormFutura, we are thrilled to announce our latest challenge for all 3D printing enthusiasts and creative minds!

Challenge Theme

Select from a variety of 3D Print Ready Models on CGTrader’s marketplace, whether paid or free, and bring them to life through 3D printing. Document and share this exciting process in a video on YouTube.

You also have the option to enhance your project by painting, customizing, post-processing, and assembling the model, or by demonstrating it in innovative and interesting applications. Remember to include a link back to the CGTrader models you've used in your video description.

How to Participate

1. Choose your model: Pick your preferred 3D model(s) from CGTrader, free or paid.
2. Print and capture: Print the model(s) and capture the process! You can also choose to paint them, post-process or refine them.
3. Share your story: Upload a video of your journey to YouTube, highlighting the transformation of your chosen model into a real-world masterpiece.
4. Link back: Remember to link back to the CGTrader models in your video description, guiding viewers to the origin of your chosen models. Make sure to also mention CGTrader in the title along with the hashtag #CGTraderPrintChallenge.

Join now!

Design Challenges is something that CGTrader community has been waiting to be back for a long time. With the greatest joy, we would like to announce that a new 3D Modeling Challenge starts now!

For this challenge, CGTrader collaborated with YAHAHA - a free no-code platform that helps your 3D creation get started easily. Experience and create amazing 3D games using your imagination, creativity and amazing 3D modeling skills.

There’s a visible trend in our community - we can see your high interest in creating fantasy character 3D Models. We truly appreciate that! Due to this reason the long-awaited challenge is all about Fantasy Characters. This challenge is open to all of you, no matter the desired field: both high poly and low poly models can enter the competition.

Important: The prize pool (valued at $10,000 in cash) will be divided into 2 separate categories.

1. The Best 3D Fantasy Model (judged by CGTrader team).

To apply for "The best 3D Model" award add fantasy-challenge tag when uploading your model.

2. YAHAHA Special Awards (judged by YAHAHA team).

To apply for the "YAHAHA Special Award" add yahaha-challenge tag when uploading your model and make sure to register on YAHAHA.

Note: You can apply for both awards with just a single 3D Model. In order to do that, use both specified tags and submit your account to YAHAHA.

Feel free to share your own submissions on social media by adding #CGTraderFantasy hashtag and showcase the art you created! The award winning 3D Models will be showcased on CGTrader's Blog and Social Media.

By applying to YAHAHA's Special Award you agree that in case of a victory, your model will be showcased in a gallery space created using YAHAHA Studio ( non commercial!).

How to join the challenge?

3D design and 3D printing can play a role in helping us get through the COVID-19 outbreak. By enabling anyone to manufacture just about any design, 3D printing can produce useful gadgets on demand like air filter holders and door openers as well as face shields.

Manufacturers and supply lines all over the world are currently under a lot of pressure to provide enough protective gear for both healthcare professionals and the general public. 3D printed gadgets can contribute to this need and help home users to better protect themselves against Coronavirus.

For this reason we at CGTrader are calling on all designers to create and upload free 3D printable models for COVID-19 prevention.

To join the challenge, upload your 3D models to CGTrader by following these rules:

1. 3D models have to be 3D printable to participate in the challenge.
2. Make sure you select “Participate in 3D Print Challenge: Resources for COVID-19 Protection challenge” checkbox in the 3D model uploading screen.
3. The deadline for submissions to this challenge is May 12.

If you have uploaded a 3D model dedicated to COVID-19 protection previously, please go to editing options and select the “Participate in 3D Print Challenge: Resources for COVID-19 Protection challenge” checkbox to join this challenge. Or you can simply add a covid-19-protection-resources tag to 3D models you’d like to join the challenge with.

With the growing number of 3D applications like VR and AR, we are seeing an increased demand for female-friendly models of women. Nevertheless, many female character models are still oversexualized (come on, female armor does not improve by becoming skimpier!). This makes finding a suitable model for realistic and female-friendly representation needlessly difficult, and is one of the many reasons why women are discouraged from entering game development, VR, and 3D modeling.

These are the reasons why we are partnering up with active members from Women in VR/AR to bring more awareness of how women are represented in the 3D industry, and are calling on all designers to create and upload more female characters to CGTrader. Our great partners at Allegorithmic, Marmoset, Quixel, Cebas, 3D-Coat, and FoxRenderfarm are also supporting this change and are helping us bring you a new 3D Challenge: Female Characters. Great rewards, like software licenses and rendering credits, are waiting for designers who create superb female character models!

The Female Character challenge is open to all designers, no matter their field: both high poly and low poly models can enter the competition.

Submit your female model to the corresponding category:

• Realistic character (regular women, historical figures, girls, etc., representing various professions, including everyday people)
• Imaginary character (sci-fi, cartoon, fantasy, stylized, etc.)

Submissions deemed to be adult content are not eligible to participate in the contest.

Share your submissions to the challenge and other favorite 3D models of females on social media by adding #womenin3D #cgwoman and help us bring more awareness and inclusiveness to the 3D world! We will feature tagged models on our challenge model collections on social media and CGTrader’s blog!

If the model is created with Cebas software, you are also more than welcome to send your models to 3dgallery@cebas.com for additional exposure.

In celebration of the amazing design work done on the Designer Schwag and Sports & Hobbies challenges, we are happy to announce yet another round of creativity, collaboration and amazing prizes - all coming your way with PBR Challenge: Interior Design. The good news is that this time the technical requirements are less restrictive and are focused on making a perfect PBR model.

For this challenge, we are looking for realistic single object models related to interior design. This includes, but is not limited to, household objects, furnishings and decorations. From a dining room table to a bookshelf; an armchair, sofa or chair to a chandelier or lamp; from cushions, curtains, or vases to architectural elements such as decorative doorknobs or ornate picture frames - think outside the box and show us what 3D can do.

Please pay attention to the fact that we are looking for single object models, and therefore, no scenes or interior sets will be approved.

These models are intended to work well with Adobe Dimension CC, an app that makes it easy for graphic designers to create high-quality, photorealistic 3D images and composite 2D and 3D assets to build products shots, scene visualizations and abstract art. To be eligible and prepare your models in the right way, it is important to review all of the technical and legal requirements. Here are the key ones to consider (for a complete list, please refer to the terms and conditions section).

• All submissions should be single-subject model...and thus single object per single file
• OBJ geometry file with BaseColor, Metallic, and Roughness with optional Normal, AO and Opacity maps.
• Only quads are accepted. Triangles can be used sparingly and only where absolutely necessary.
• Poles should have amaximum of 5 edges.
• Single UV set per mesh (0-1 space, non-overlapping).
• 200k polygons (triangles at render) is a good limit to try to cap poly count.
• Real world scale objects (centimeters).
• Asset names should use camelCase or underscores (no spaces), and be consistent respective to all dependent files. Use English only.

This challenge is a great opportunity to not only win an amazing prize but to build a model that is perfectly constructed for the design community. By joining this challenge you also have the opportunity to become a contributor to the Adobe Stock 3D marketplace (and earn sales from there). This could be with no additional work on your part since CGTrader will take care of the work for you!

Don’t forget to also review the Legal Guidelines for Adobe Stock Contributors. These are similar to those that you already use for commercially cleared models on CGTrader. In short - we cannot accept any models showing trademarks or containing other non-proprietary content, so if you are submitting a chair, lamp, sofa or other interior design model - make sure that these designs are unique and not copied from real-world objects. Learn more about all of these topics - the theme, the technical and legal guidelines, and the associated Adobe Stock Contributors terms - in the dedicated section.

Also, we advise you to scan this blog post for additional legal information.

Use this opportunity to win cash prizes, subscriptions to different Adobe apps and to become part of the future of 3D content at Adobe. Join now!