Design

Sourcing art assets

Updated: Sep 2, 2025

Understanding how to source art assets is helpful when first developing your app or experience. You can source different types of art assets, such as 2D textures, images, 3D models, effects, and audio files.

Knowing where and what to look for is crucial for several reasons:

Quality and consistency: High-quality assets ensure consistency with your art direction.

Performance optimization: Optimized assets are essential to performance and to reduce latency.

Time and cost: Efficient asset sourcing saves time and can reduce development costs.

Sourcing art asset considerations

When sourcing assets, there are several factors to consider to ensure a high-quality experience.

Content requirements	Ensure sourced art assets complies with Meta Quest Virtual Reality Check (VRC) guidelines and Content guidelines. This can help speed up the publishing process once your app is complete.
Licensing and Usage Rights	Ensure assets are properly licensed before using them in your project. Understand the terms of use, including any restrictions on modification or distribution for your source. Be aware of intellectual property or copyright concerns, such as trademarks, logos, or copyrighted materials. Please see Code of Conduct for Virtual Experiences⁠.
Budget (financial and time)	Assess your project’s scale and complexity to determine where to source assets. Sourcing assets offer benefits and trade-offs.
Quality, resolution, and performance	Choose assets that balance visual appeal and performance. Consider file size and compression to minimize loading times and maintain smooth performance, for example: Consider resolution of 2D assets, like textures and UI elements, to ensure project needs. Focus on model quality and polygon count for 3D assets. Choose assets aligned with your project’s art direction to create a cohesive experience.
File Format Compatibility	Check sourced assets are compatible with your software, engine, and project requirements to prevent technical issues later. Confirm that the assets’ materials and shaders align with your project’s rendering engine and requirements.

Where to source art assets

There are three primary options to consider when sourcing art assets for your app or project: downloading pre-made assets from asset marketplaces and libraries, hiring artists freelancers to make them for you, or creating your own.

Downloading premade assets

Online marketplaces, stores, and libraries offer easy access to a wide variety of pre-made art assets in different styles and formats, often at low or no cost, making them a budget-friendly way to meet project needs without starting from scratch. However, asset quality and type vary widely, so careful evaluation is essential, as assets may require customization and come with licensing restrictions that limit usage. Additionally, popular assets can be overused, impacting your project’s uniqueness.

When deciding whether to spend money on premade assets, consider the role each asset plays in your project:

High-impact assets: Paying for assets that are central to the user experience, such as the player character, main environment models, and signature UI elements often benefit from higher detail, uniqueness, and polish, which can set your project apart and justify the investment.

Background or supporting assets: For less prominent elements like background props, generic textures, or ambient sounds, free or lower-cost options are usually sufficient. These assets typically require less detail and are less likely to affect the overall uniqueness of your project.

While free assets save time and money, paid options from these platforms can often provide higher quality and more unique choices, especially for key components. Regardless of cost, you may still need to invest time fixing or searching for the right fit, so always balance your budget with your project’s needs and priorities.

Hiring artists

Hiring an artist or technical artist per project to create custom assets tailored to your specific needs, offers greater control and consistency. This approach ensures unique, precise alignment with your vision, especially for projects requiring highly specific content. While hiring is more expensive and costs vary by the artist’s skill and experience, it can save time and deliver assets that perfectly fit your application’s aesthetic, though it may not suit or be available for projects with limited budgets.

Considerations when hiring

Artist’s portfolio and online presence: Before hiring, review the artist’s online presence and any publicly available social statements. Controversial or polarizing statements can generate buzz, but they may also shape early perceptions of your studio’s social stances. This can impact your project’s reputation and audience reception, so weigh these factors carefully.

Disclosure and NDAs: When engaging an artist, be prepared to discuss your project’s confidentiality. Speak with your lawyer and have a disclosure plan or non-disclosure agreement (NDA) ready to ensure sensitive information is protected and expectations are clear from the outset.

Alignment and fit: Beyond technical skill, consider how well the artist’s style and values align with your project and studio culture. This helps ensure a smooth collaboration and assets that truly reflect your vision.

Creating your own

With the right skills and resources, creating your own art assets offers complete creative control and precise customization to your needs. While this approach can save money by using free tools, it often demands significant time and effort, especially for large-scale projects.

Manual creation

Manually creating assets remains a core part of many development workflows. This method allows for highly tailored results and ensures that every detail matches your project’s vision. However, it can be time-consuming and requires expertise in areas such as digital media and art asset creation.

Integrating AI in the workflow

AI platforms provide powerful Text-to-3D and Image-to-3D conversion tools that enable fast creation and customization of 3D assets. Developers can use these generative AI tools to produce tailored art assets, such as textures, models, and audio based on input parameters, offering flexibility, creativity, and efficiency. AI can also be used to generate or augment concept art ideas, serving as a starting point for manual asset creation or refinement.

This approach accelerates development while delivering unique, personalized visuals that closely align with the project vision. However, generative AI tools have limitations and can vary in quality and consistency. AI-generated assets may suffer from issues like unoptimized geometry, poor UV mapping, or lack of polish, which can require significant manual cleanup and adjustment. Always ensure that both manually created and AI-generated assets meet your project’s quality standards before shipping.

How to decide where to source art assets

Taking into account all the sourcing considerations and methods to source art assets, here is a five step method for determining how to source your assets.

Step 1: Define project requirements

The first step in sourcing assets is to clearly define your project requirements, starting with the project scope.

For small-scale projects such as prototypes or proof-of-concepts, free assets are often the best choice due to limited needs and budget constraints.

Medium-scale projects, like indie games or small business applications, may benefit from some paid assets or asset packs that provide greater consistency and uniqueness.

Large-scale projects, including AAA games or enterprise software, typically have larger budgets that allow for more customized and high-quality asset sourcing.

In addition to scope, consider the technical requirements of your project, such as the target engine or platform, any custom features or integrations needed, and performance or optimization needs that could influence asset selection.

Step 2: Evaluate budget and resources

Next, evaluate your budget and available resources. Your budget will heavily influence whether you rely on free assets, purchase asset packs, or commission custom work. Alongside budget, assess your available resources, including whether you have an in-house team with the necessary skills, access to freelance or contract artists, or if you face limitations in time or personnel that could affect asset creation and integration.

Step 3: Consider time constraints

Time constraints are another critical factor in asset sourcing. The urgency of asset creation also varies. Some projects require assets immediately for rapid prototyping, others follow a standard development cycle, and some have flexible schedules allowing for more deliberate asset sourcing. Understanding your timeline and urgency helps determine whether quick solutions like asset stores or longer-term approaches like hiring or in-house creation are appropriate.

Step 4: Assess Quality and Customization Needs

Assess the quality and customization needs of your assets. Quality levels range from basic, functional but unpolished assets, to mid-range assets with good quality, and high-end assets that are premium and high-fidelity. Determine whether your project requires custom or unique assets, such as proprietary intellectual property or specific branding, or if generic, off-the-shelf assets will suffice. This assessment guides whether you should prioritize commissioning custom work or sourcing existing assets.

Sourcing art assets reference table

Sourcing consideration	Marketplace	Hiring artists	Create your own
Content requirements	Always considered	Always considered	Always considered
Licensing and usage rights	Depends on the asset and the marketplace.	Ownership is discussed between the artist and you.	Generally, you or your business owns the work that you create, but check with you legal team.
Budget (financial and time)	Lower budgets, less time.	Higher budget, more time.	Mix (free tools and resources available)
Quality, resolution, and performance	Mix, depends on the asset and the platform.	High	Mix (low to high depending on experience)
File format compatibility	Mix, depends on the asset and the platform.	Yes, because the artist controls the final export.	Yes, because you or your team controls the final export.

Resources for sourcing art assets

Below is a list of resources that can help you get started sourcing art assets for your project.

Download premade assets resources

Here is a list of some platforms for sourcing art assets suitable for XR devices.

Unity Asset Store⁠: A widely used marketplace offering a broad range of 2D and 3D assets including models, textures, and animations, easily integrated into your applications.

Fab⁠ (Formally Unreal Engine Marketplace): Another major marketplace with high-quality assets for game and XR development, supporting various styles and formats.

Sketchfab⁠ — Popular for publishing, sharing, and buying 3D content, with a 3D model viewer to preview assets before purchase; offers both free and paid models.

TurboSquid⁠ — A large professional marketplace for 3D models used across industries, including game development and VFX, with royalty-free licensing options.

OpenGameArt⁠ — An open-source library providing free or low-cost assets, useful especially for indie developers or those with limited budgets.

Adobe Substance 3D Assets⁠ — A library of high-quality materials and textures, accessible with an Adobe license, widely used for realistic texturing.

These platforms offer a mix of free and paid assets, varying in quality, licensing, and customization options. Evaluate assets carefully to ensure they fit project needs and comply with licensing.

Hiring artists resources

Freelance marketplaces can vary widely. Please use resources with caution and make sure you deliberate your project needs before using any resources marketplace.

ArtStation⁠: A popular platform where you can find and hire freelance 3D artists, concept artists, and technical artists with portfolios focused on VR/XR.

Upwork⁠: A general freelance platform with many VR/XR artists available for commission work.

Fiverr⁠: Offers a range of freelance artists for smaller or specific art asset commissions.

Besides these platforms you can also try to contact individual artists directly if you admire their portfolios and inquire about their availability. There are also some specialized studios or agencies that offer end-to-end art asset creation, including concept art, 3D modeling, animation, and optimization for VR/XR.

Creating art assets resources

For tools and insight to how to make some art assets check see the art asset documentation. Below are some examples of GenAI tools that can be used to help develop your project.

Meshy AI⁠: Generative AI tools for quick creation and customization of 3D assets via Text-to-3D and Image-to-3D conversion, enabling tailored asset production.

Meta AI⁠: LLM tool that can help with quick 2D image or texture creation as well as general text or question answering.