To be able to move the source mesh around without affecting the location of the instanced objects :- First select the instanced object and then from the top menu under go to Objects > Apply > Make instances real - and click on it. The result: You now can move the original object around and have it not affect the instanced versions of it. This can be very useful if, like me, you have already placed the instanced how you want and now want to move the original mesh out of the way!
Thank you very much for this, Justin. There was one big piece of information missing for me, and it caused me a lot of headache trying to apply this technique: The instanced models will be generated at a certain offset from the generated empty; this offset is determined by the offset of the original collection from the World Origin. (= global coordinates) In the case of this video, it coincidentally works like a simple duplication because the original collection is located at the World Origin, which is why there is no extra offset to consider. If that isn't the case, and the Collection is, for example, located at 0,0,5, the Instanced models will be offset by 0,0,5 from the empty that is generated when creating an instanced collection. This appears to be intended by design (although I have no idea how that would fit in any workflow). To "fix" it and basically cancel out this offset, you will have to set the standard offset of the collection to the global position of the original collection: Place your 3D-Cursor in the middle of the collection. I suggest to select the central element, Shift + S > Cursor to Selected. Select an object from the collection > Object Properties > Collection - Select the Dropdown arrow and select "Set Offset from Cursor" I hope this helps.
Thank you for tut ^^ If you wanna make any of those objects as single object. Select the object > Go to Object > Relations > Make Single User > Object & Data. If you choose Object & Data & Materials, its gonna seperate that object's material as a new one. I usually don't prefer that :) Good luck everyone
How can I make an instance unique (like in sketchup, with the composants) ? for example, what if I'd like to make only one Bonnie with a different tail, or one Bonnie with a different colour ?
Thank you. That was very helpful for my project. As a beginner, I didn't know how to solve this issue because I have multiple copies for my case show, and that made my file heavy.
Does the instances carry over to unreal engine and game development? Should I also be using instances, even if I'm modeling single non-complex objects at a time? Can instances reduce the performance needs of the game later, or I'm completely misunderstanding the purpose of the instance? An instance was used in one of the tutorial videos and now I use it everywhere, not only do I copy the whole chair as an instance but I also make the legs out of it? Is it necessary?
Great tip. Btw, for having the origin of the collection instance in the perfect location is using scenes for each collection we want to instance, because instances are dependent of the location of the original collection
Hi, Justin! Thank you a lot for your videos! I don't know how you do this but you have answers for every single problem I get stuck on in my Blender learning journey!
Is using alt+D the same in terms of resource saving? I'd gotten into the habit of selecting multiple objects and pressing alt+D recently. Thanks for the vid!
with alt + d you can make an instance too. but with an instanced collection you can try to move your first object and the other objects will move too. especially when the instances are rotated, so they will move in other directions and you can animate or destibute them in other ways as with the instanced objects.
Linked objects (alt-d) share the same mesh, so graphics card memory can be saved. In Material Properties you can change Link Type from Data to Object and you can have different materials for each instance. Switching Material/Shader for each drawn object can be time consuming, so there we have an instancing where you send only matrices (Translation/Rotation/Scaling) to GPU and render many instances without changing shader, and this is very fast. Good for viewport (Eevee), not sure for Cycles, probably not much difference.
@@voytechj Youre a genius. Thank you. Any chance you know how to further improve efficiency in the viewport when not rendering? I know about display as bounds, but there's no way to do all that to a bunch of object in a scene at once.
@@PedroFilms Don't know how to do this at once easily. You can place: - heavyweight meshes in a "heavyweight" collection, and "Disable in Viewport" in an Outliner window, - create lightweight meshes and put them in a "lightweight" collection, and "Disable in Renders" in an outliner window, - For "heavy" mesh object add constraint "Copy transforms", and set "Target" pointing to a proper lightweight mesh. This is good for moving, scaling and rotating objects, but cloning don't work easily, because you need first select light and heavy together and then press alt-D. Cloning operation will copy and set constrains as well, but first you need to select them both and this is cumbersome. This could be done better with scripting. Lets say, you only clone light meshes objects like there is no tomorrow, and then run some script that iterate through all lightweight objects, and checks if there is a cloned corresponding heavy mesh object. If not then make a clone of heavyweight object, and create a proper constraints.
I don't get it. When you create the "Bonnie" collection, it doesn't show up anywhere. And you haven't added the bonnie model to it. When I create the collection instance it does appear, but there's nothing in it.
You can use a fantastic add-on: MACHIN3tools, is almost free but I suggest you the deus ex version. Installed it, you can 1)add a plane to a different collection 2) make a group with MACHIN3 and instance collection to the group 3) add another plane to another collection and instance (face) the group you created. Then the last plane accept modifiers and so the array. Thank you and good Blender.
I don’t know what I did but some of my objects are higher up in the z axis than others. Do you know how I can make them all be at the same height? Thanks.
Weird, anytime I follow these instructions and add the collection instance - the empty comes in but doesnt have the geometry with it.... so I just get a random empty.
is it possible to make like a synthesizer's knob layout using only 1 object (knob) as a reference? So I edit 1 object and the rest autoupdates?) My first fought was array modifier, but I cant get i working as I want.
Hi @The CG Essentials , great explanation on instances, but I have a question/doubt when appending/linking a collection from an other file as an instance...I have tried both appending and linking but it still adds to the statistics, is there a way to add without affecting the statistics??
To be able to move the source mesh around without affecting the location of the instanced objects :- First select the instanced object and then from the top menu under go to Objects > Apply > Make instances real - and click on it. The result: You now can move the original object around and have it not affect the instanced versions of it. This can be very useful if you have already placed the instanced how you want and now want to move the original mesh out of the way!
I dont think that will help with the performance, this is more for geometry, it will be helpful if what you want is to link the same settings to other source.
Great! I just want to ask if there's any difference between Alt+D and this? And also this and duplicating the collection by "Duplciate linked"? Thanks!
Alright, now suppose I want five hundred identical dogs but wearing different hats. I make a collection with, say, ten hats, and each Bonnie instance is to have one hat picked randomly from those. And then to make it more interesting, each hat is to be tilted stylishly at some random angle for each Bonnie instance.
ffs blender, just make the option to "make instance" when I duplicate my object, there is no reason why I have to put a single object in a collection just to instance it. A few of these "quirks" are ok, but they just keep comming! Sorry for ranting
Thanks, It's a great tutorial How can i do the animation bounce effect like in this video: ruclips.net/video/ypu9HYNUDSY/видео.html in second 57 and this one: ruclips.net/video/DUNMTI0z7Mg/видео.html without using many keyframes Is there any blender addon?
Hi everyone! Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below! :)
To be able to move the source mesh around without affecting the location of the instanced objects :- First select the instanced object and then from the top menu under go to Objects > Apply > Make instances real - and click on it.
The result: You now can move the original object around and have it not affect the instanced versions of it. This can be very useful if, like me, you have already placed the instanced how you want and now want to move the original mesh out of the way!
Thank you very much for this, Justin.
There was one big piece of information missing for me, and it caused me a lot of headache trying to apply this technique:
The instanced models will be generated at a certain offset from the generated empty; this offset is determined by the offset of the original collection from the World Origin. (= global coordinates) In the case of this video, it coincidentally works like a simple duplication because the original collection is located at the World Origin, which is why there is no extra offset to consider.
If that isn't the case, and the Collection is, for example, located at 0,0,5, the Instanced models will be offset by 0,0,5 from the empty that is generated when creating an instanced collection.
This appears to be intended by design (although I have no idea how that would fit in any workflow).
To "fix" it and basically cancel out this offset, you will have to set the standard offset of the collection to the global position of the original collection:
Place your 3D-Cursor in the middle of the collection. I suggest to select the central element, Shift + S > Cursor to Selected.
Select an object from the collection > Object Properties > Collection - Select the Dropdown arrow and select "Set Offset from Cursor"
I hope this helps.
Thank you so much! I was struggling with that issue for days!
@@kelbunyan9160 I'm so glad I could help ^^
Oh my gosh, thank you SO much! I needed to have that certain offset so you saved me!! 🙏🙏🙏
You saved my day, lot of work and my PC's performance! THANK YOU! :)
Thank you for tut ^^ If you wanna make any of those objects as single object. Select the object > Go to Object > Relations > Make Single User > Object & Data. If you choose Object & Data & Materials, its gonna seperate that object's material as a new one. I usually don't prefer that :) Good luck everyone
omg you saved me and my cpu a life time of rendering did not know this existed your the best!
This is life saving for creating urban/city renders. Thanks a ton!
What is the difference between that, and Alt+D? The latter also does not inflate the number in the statistics
How can I make an instance unique (like in sketchup, with the composants) ? for example, what if I'd like to make only one Bonnie with a different tail, or one Bonnie with a different colour ?
Thank you. That was very helpful for my project. As a beginner, I didn't know how to solve this issue because I have multiple copies for my case show, and that made my file heavy.
Does the instances carry over to unreal engine and game development? Should I also be using instances, even if I'm modeling single non-complex objects at a time? Can instances reduce the performance needs of the game later, or I'm completely misunderstanding the purpose of the instance? An instance was used in one of the tutorial videos and now I use it everywhere, not only do I copy the whole chair as an instance but I also make the legs out of it? Is it necessary?
Thanks for the video! I have a question: How do you put the statistics in the corner?
Go to Viewport Overlays, and right beneath the Text Info checkbox, you can see the Statistics checkbox.
Source: i.stack.imgur.com/tVh3d.gif
Thank you. Now I can work on twin heads: one of them in posed statue, another looking straight somewhere next to the statue, and work on both
Great tip. Btw, for having the origin of the collection instance in the perfect location is using scenes for each collection we want to instance, because instances are dependent of the location of the original collection
Thank you very much for your online instructions on how to do blender we appreciate you so much you're definitely one of my favorites
Hi, Justin! Thank you a lot for your videos! I don't know how you do this but you have answers for every single problem I get stuck on in my Blender learning journey!
i always watch your tuts, you are a real timesaver my friend. Thank you for all the nice vids :)
Is using alt+D the same in terms of resource saving? I'd gotten into the habit of selecting multiple objects and pressing alt+D recently. Thanks for the vid!
with alt + d you can make an instance too. but with an instanced collection you can try to move your first object and the other objects will move too. especially when the instances are rotated, so they will move in other directions and you can animate or destibute them in other ways as with the instanced objects.
Linked objects (alt-d) share the same mesh, so graphics card memory can be saved. In Material Properties you can change Link Type from Data to Object and you can have different materials for each instance. Switching Material/Shader for each drawn object can be time consuming, so there we have an instancing where you send only matrices (Translation/Rotation/Scaling) to GPU and render many instances without changing shader, and this is very fast. Good for viewport (Eevee), not sure for Cycles, probably not much difference.
@@voytechj Youre a genius. Thank you. Any chance you know how to further improve efficiency in the viewport when not rendering? I know about display as bounds, but there's no way to do all that to a bunch of object in a scene at once.
@@voytechj Made a video explaining the process ruclips.net/video/jZiWQ9yDDMM/видео.html&ab_channel=PedroW
@@PedroFilms Don't know how to do this at once easily.
You can place:
- heavyweight meshes in a "heavyweight" collection, and "Disable in Viewport" in an Outliner window,
- create lightweight meshes and put them in a "lightweight" collection, and "Disable in Renders" in an outliner window,
- For "heavy" mesh object add constraint "Copy transforms", and set "Target" pointing to a proper lightweight mesh.
This is good for moving, scaling and rotating objects, but cloning don't work easily, because you need first select light and heavy together and then press alt-D. Cloning operation will copy and set constrains as well, but first you need to select them both and this is cumbersome.
This could be done better with scripting. Lets say, you only clone light meshes objects like there is no tomorrow, and then run some script that iterate through all lightweight objects, and checks if there is a cloned corresponding heavy mesh object. If not then make a clone of heavyweight object, and create a proper constraints.
Thank you so much for this tutorial, this is small tip but really important!!!!!!!!
Thank you very much. I searched a lot for this matter. May God reward you with good
is it possible to use this method with particle?
I don't get it. When you create the "Bonnie" collection, it doesn't show up anywhere. And you haven't added the bonnie model to it. When I create the collection instance it does appear, but there's nothing in it.
How do you even see how many vertices you have? I don't have those numbers showing up at the bottom of the screen... Help!
Alt D does the same job??
How can I make an array of collection instances?
You can use a fantastic add-on: MACHIN3tools, is almost free but I suggest you the deus ex version. Installed it, you can 1)add a plane to a different collection 2) make a group with MACHIN3 and instance collection to the group 3) add another plane to another collection and instance (face) the group you created. Then the last plane accept modifiers and so the array. Thank you and good Blender.
Can we import alt+D linked copies into unity or unreal??
I don’t know what I did but some of my objects are higher up in the z axis than others. Do you know how I can make them all be at the same height? Thanks.
Too Awesome!!! thanks a lot!
Weird, anytime I follow these instructions and add the collection instance - the empty comes in but doesnt have the geometry with it.... so I just get a random empty.
is it possible to make like a synthesizer's knob layout using only 1 object (knob) as a reference? So I edit 1 object and the rest autoupdates?) My first fought was array modifier, but I cant get i working as I want.
wow so clear concepts thanks a lot!
how do I do this without having to copy and paste things over and over, is there a way to do this with an array modifier?
Hi @The CG Essentials , great explanation on instances, but I have a question/doubt when appending/linking a collection from an other file as an instance...I have tried both appending and linking but it still adds to the statistics, is there a way to add without affecting the statistics??
Thanks for the tut, Justin! :)
Hi, Justin! Thank you for tutorial!
No worries!
How to render the instance, but not the origin collection
have you worked out how to do it?
Is there an option that i can set an option as intance after i allreaddy have placed it?
To be able to move the source mesh around without affecting the location of the instanced objects :- First select the instanced object and then from the top menu under go to Objects > Apply > Make instances real - and click on it.
The result: You now can move the original object around and have it not affect the instanced versions of it. This can be very useful if you have already placed the instanced how you want and now want to move the original mesh out of the way!
Brilliant !
thanks for the tip. It is very practical to lighten the scenes!
Awesome Tutorial!! But, how come "Shift+R" isn't working for me?
Are you in edit mode or what...?
@@Slipper.The_Avaitor_Films nope, fraid not. Don't have any answers for why this wasn't working.
@@drinnerd8532 alright
@@drinnerd8532 press Shift+D to duplicate
I hope you live long life haha! thank you for this video it was exactly what i was looking for and very concise :)
When I try "make instances real" it doesn't work at all, nothing changes... Anyone knows why?
Can we use this for lighting also?
I dont think that will help with the performance, this is more for geometry, it will be helpful if what you want is to link the same settings to other source.
Great! I just want to ask if there's any difference between Alt+D and this? And also this and duplicating the collection by "Duplciate linked"? Thanks!
thanks a lot, I had problems with the performance given my laptop can't take too many figures
Thank you
thank you for a great explain.
hey man, can you do instancing tutorial for unity?
thank you, so much
Useful Video
Thankyou
Thanks this is so helpful :)
very useful info
thanks!
Very useful!
Alright, now suppose I want five hundred identical dogs but wearing different hats. I make a collection with, say, ten hats, and each Bonnie instance is to have one hat picked randomly from those.
And then to make it more interesting, each hat is to be tilted stylishly at some random angle for each Bonnie instance.
oh thank you so much!!!
Nice One!
Can't. My objects keep multiplying their vertices and faces.
tHANKS !
Thanks
i just wanna say thank you
exelent thanks
Helpful
03:07 but if you have a subdiv on the original object, you'll get a surprise
How to remove it
key command CTRL G ;) Thanks
wow!
wow your intro shocks me
1:38 Thank me later!
Bad thing is - if you use modifiers on original object it cannot be applied even if you make instances real.
ffs blender, just make the option to "make instance" when I duplicate my object, there is no reason why I have to put a single object in a collection just to instance it. A few of these "quirks" are ok, but they just keep comming!
Sorry for ranting
sure but once you apply the instance and make it real, it's no longer an instance and just becomes an individual object with shared mesh data.
thanks my lord
It would be much better if you turned on the display of the pressed keys
Thanks, It's a great tutorial
How can i do the animation bounce effect like in this video:
ruclips.net/video/ypu9HYNUDSY/видео.html
in second 57 and this one:
ruclips.net/video/DUNMTI0z7Mg/видео.html
without using many keyframes
Is there any blender addon?
yo mark zugaburg
Thanks