diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index d1c8594a46..d8f2aa77d0 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ include(AddBisonTarget)     # Defines add_bison_target function
 include(AddFlexTarget)      # Defines add_flex_target function
 include(CompositeSources)   # Defines composite_sources function
 include(Interrogate)        # Defines target_interrogate AND add_python_module
+include(RunPzip)            # Defines run_pzip function
 
 # Add the include path for source and header files generated by CMake
 include_directories("${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/include")
@@ -63,6 +64,7 @@ option(BUILD_DTOOL  "Build the dtool source tree." ON)
 option(BUILD_PANDA  "Build the panda source tree." ON)
 option(BUILD_DIRECT "Build the direct source tree." ON)
 option(BUILD_PANDATOOL "Build the pandatool source tree." ON)
+option(BUILD_MODELS "Build/install the built-in models." ON)
 
 # Include Panda3D packages
 if(BUILD_DTOOL)
@@ -81,6 +83,29 @@ if(BUILD_PANDATOOL)
   add_subdirectory(pandatool "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/pandatool")
 endif()
 
+if(BUILD_MODELS)
+  # We don't really "build" the models, just pzip them
+  file(COPY "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/models/maps/"
+    DESTINATION "${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/models/maps"
+  )
+  run_pzip(models
+    "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/models"
+    "${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/models"
+    *.egg
+  )
+  file(COPY "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/dmodels/src/"
+    DESTINATION "${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/models"
+    FILES_MATCHING PATTERN *.rgb PATTERN *.png PATTERN *.jpg PATTERN *.wav
+  )
+  run_pzip(dmodels
+    "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/dmodels/src"
+    "${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/models"
+    *.egg
+  )
+  install(DIRECTORY "${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/models"
+    DESTINATION share/panda3d)
+endif()
+
 # This bit is to generate the 'pandac' compatibility shim. It's deprecated now,
 # but in older versions of Panda3D, one would use
 # from pandac.PandaModules import *
diff --git a/cmake/macros/RunPzip.cmake b/cmake/macros/RunPzip.cmake
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ef428b92d6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmake/macros/RunPzip.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+function(run_pzip target_name source destination glob)
+  file(GLOB_RECURSE files RELATIVE "${source}" "${source}/${glob}")
+
+  set(dstfiles "")
+  foreach(srcfile ${files})
+    file(RELATIVE_PATH srcfile_rel "${destination}" "${source}/${srcfile}")
+    file(RELATIVE_PATH dstfile_rel "${destination}" "${destination}/${srcfile}.pz")
+
+    list(APPEND dstfiles "${dstfile_rel}")
+    add_custom_command(OUTPUT "${dstfile_rel}"
+      COMMAND pzip -c > "${dstfile_rel}" < "${srcfile_rel}"
+      WORKING_DIRECTORY "${destination}"
+      DEPENDS pzip
+      COMMENT "")
+
+    get_filename_component(dstdir "${destination}/${dstfile_rel}" DIRECTORY)
+    file(MAKE_DIRECTORY "${dstdir}")
+  endforeach(srcfile)
+
+  add_custom_target(${target_name} ALL
+    DEPENDS ${dstfiles}
+    WORKING_DIRECTORY "${destination}")
+endfunction(run_pzip)