Instances

Manage Rhino instances#

Open Panels → Instances, or use the Instances tab beside Geometry Tree in the Modeling workspace. Rhino calls these objects block instances. Studio calls them Instances.

Import a 3DM with its render meshes saved. Definitions appear in the Instances list. Placements have their own Instance Placements panel, available from Panels or beside Instances in the workspace tabs. The count includes nested placements. Direct means a placement outside another instance; nested means it is part of a shared definition. Unused definitions remain available even when they have no scene placements.

Names, source IDs, descriptions, nested references, local transforms, object layers and material-source settings are retained. An I badge identifies instances in Geometry Tree. Clicking an instance's geometry in Render Preview selects its outer placement. You can inspect nested references and members through Geometry Tree or the manager.

Change one placement#

Select a direct placement in Instance Placements:

Place adds a copy of the selected definition at the imported source model's origin, on the current object layer. The new copy is selected. Ctrl/Command-click toggles placement selections; Shift-click selects a range. Use the common trash icon to delete selected direct placements together. A locked object or shared member prevents a partial deletion.

Imported mirrored scales remain signed. Sheared placements retain their exact source matrix and cannot be reduced safely to independent numeric rotation/scale controls. Transform a suitable parent instead. The preview's fitting and Y-Up/Z-Up wrapper remain separate from Rhino's source coordinates.

Edit shared content#

Choose a definition and Edit shared. The dialog states how many expanded placements use it. Change its name and description, then select a shared member to edit its name, local position/rotation/scale, object layer, material source, visibility or lock. Save shared definition applies one undoable edit to all linked copies; Cancel discards the draft.

Definition members cannot be independently dragged, deleted or reassigned from the ordinary Geometry Tree controls. Use Edit shared for a shared change. Make the outer placement unique before changing its definition independently. Making an outer definition unique does not duplicate the definitions nested inside it.

The editor does not remodel mesh topology or NURBS, add/remove definition members, or author new definitions from arbitrary geometry. Keep that modeling work in Rhino or another DCC application. You can place and duplicate imported definitions and create independent definition variants with Make unique.

Materials and object layers#

An instance can have its own material assignment. Members set to Use Parent Material inherit through nested instances, so two placements can share geometry while showing different surfaces. Members set to Layer or Chosen Material keep those choices. Assigning a surface to an outer instance does not force an override on members that use a different material source.

The instance's insertion layer and each member's layer remain separate. Hiding either an insertion layer or an applicable member layer affects rendering. Locks protect placements and shared-content changes. Unlock a shared member in Edit shared, and unlock its object layer when needed.

Unused definitions and source notices#

The definition trash action is available only when there are no placements and no other definition references it. This includes references in an unused parent definition. Deleting a placement never disposes geometry still used by another placement.

Source notices identifies missing renderable members, empty definitions and linked-source snapshots. Linked external files are not fetched or refreshed automatically. Studio displays embedded/cached content where available; missing content is not replaced with guessed geometry. Resave the source in Rhino with usable render meshes and reimport to update that content. Placing or replacing with an incomplete definition is blocked.

Saving and compatibility#

Definitions, placements and edits save with the .lumen project and browser workspace; the original 3DM is retained unchanged. Undo/Redo and open-document switching use the existing scene history. Older saved Rhino projects are upgraded while preserving individual-copy edits as explicit definition variants when necessary.

Importing a replacement source model replaces its Instances registry. Studio does not write modified definitions back to a 3DM or provide Rhino's linked-file manager. HDRi export still exports lighting, not scene instances.

Limits are 1,000 definitions, 4,990 stored definition members, 128 nested instance levels and 5,000 total expanded scene objects. Definitions share source geometry buffers, but each visible placement has its own scene nodes; this is not GPU draw-call batching. Very large assemblies may need simplification in Rhino.

See model imports, object transforms, Object Layers and workspace layout.

Performance and surface display#

Instances now reuse scene indexes and unchanged scene assembly. Unused original expanded copies are detached from the live render tree while shared geometry remains intact. This reduces CPU work for large instance lists; it does not promise fewer GPU draw calls.

For surfaces without complete render meshes, use the optional NURBS module to inspect edges and generate display data. Older projects that omitted missing surfaces should reimport their original 3DM.

Large placement lists#

Placements are displayed in pages of 50. Select direct and Shift selection still use the complete logical placement list. Selecting a placement in the viewport reveals its page. Unopened or inactive tabs do not continually rebuild the list; ordinary camera updates reuse it. See performance and Chrome GPU setup.

Definition and placement controls#

Instances is a selectable definition list. Row icons and right-click actions provide Place, Edit and Delete; the ordinary Delete action is only available for unused definitions. Compact counts remain visible; Source Details is in the right-click menu. Definition rows are not drag-and-drop placement controls. Selecting a definition shows its shared-edit and placement actions in Contextual Properties or Geometry Properties.

Instance Placements lists up to 50 rows per page. Search and range selections use the full matching list. Rows provide Material, Lock/Unlock, Frame, Show/Hide and Delete. Right-click also offers Duplicate linked placement and Make unique. Selecting a placement shows its transform, material, visibility and Frame controls in Object/Contextual Properties. Nested shared references are labeled and have protected controls; select the outer placement or edit the shared definition to make changes.

Dragging a material onto an instance highlights the outer target's bounding box and names it. Releasing opens a choice between only that placement and all placements of the same definition, including nested references. Assignments follow the existing material-source rules above. Explicit Layer or Chosen materials on members are retained; set a member to Use Parent Material in the shared editor when it should inherit the placement's assigned material. Cancel leaves the scene unchanged.

Definition actions and selection across pages#

Definition cards dedicate their width to the name, compact member/parent/placement counts and a short description. Click anywhere outside an action button to select the card. Use right-click Source Details for source identifiers, the full description, direct/nested counts and import notices.

Right-click Select all placements selects every placement of that definition, including nested references and other pages. The Instance Placements panel shows the total selection and how many are on the current page. Show selection clears the search and takes you to the first selected placement. The compact Previous/Next bar stays below the scrolling list. Selecting one placement from the viewport reveals its page.

The normal row trash icon remains limited to unused definitions. Delete definition and all placements… is a separate right-click action with confirmation. It removes the definition, its scene placements, and references to it inside parent definitions; those parents and their other members survive. Locks on affected placements, members or object layers block the entire action. Undo restores the transaction.

The shared editor groups Lock shared member and Visible in every placement together below its property fields. Frame appears beside the name in Object Properties.

Compact rows and reference states#

Definition selection, Place, Edit and Delete stay on one row to the right of the definition name. Long names truncate with a title tooltip; member/parent/placement counts and description move below. The selection icon selects placed objects using that definition. Empty Instances uses the yellow instance icon and Import model action. The UI Components panel gallery includes isolated definitions and 165 placements for reviewing long names and pagination without importing a customer model.

GLB and glTF instances#

Static nodes sharing the same glTF mesh are imported as one definition with multiple placements. Rhino instance references retained in GLB metadata are also recognized when backed by that mesh identity. Names alone do not link geometry. The Instances and Instance Placements panels use the same tools as Rhino definitions. Animated/skinned glTF scenes retain their native animation ownership.

When dropping a material onto a placement, All Instance Placements applies it to that definition’s placements; it does not assign it to the whole file or an unrelated geometry group. This instance changes only the selected placement. Shared members with explicit material overrides retain them. This instance scope takes priority over ordinary group scope.

Copy between projects#

Select definitions in Instances, or placements in Instance Placements, with Shift and Ctrl/Command for multiple items. Use Copy in the right-click menu or Ctrl/Command+C, switch to another open project tab, then use Paste or Ctrl/Command+V. Placement copies include their shared definitions, materials and source geometry. New identities protect the destination’s existing objects. Geometry Tree, Materials, Object Layers and Light Stack support the same workflow. Object-layer copies include the layer structure and materials; select geometry separately when it should travel too. Image resources travel with copied lights. The clipboard lasts for the current Studio session.

Partial animated/rigged branches require a complete project transfer. Source archive size and scene capacity limits still apply; a failed paste reports the issue without replacing the destination.