Question about instancing
Those Things
Posts: 1,113
If I load a figure into a scene, and then create a group of instances of that figure, and then change the mesh resolution of the original figure from "High Resolution" to "Base", do all the instances of that figure also change to base, or do they retain the original resolution?
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They will change - the instances are a live copy of the original (which is how they save resources).
Thank you!
Where is the term "instances" discussed in detail? There are a few of these words like instances and decals that escape me.
Instances are a special type of object that you can use when you need copies of one item from your scene: for example if you want to make a forest you could create a base tree and then lots of instances of it to cover your forest ground. It could also be used for grass, or to create an army from a set of soldiers, or a city from various buildings....
Instances are exact copies of the base object, only their place (and IIRC scaling) is different, when you change the base objects (eg apply a material) those changes are reflected on all instances. So DS only needs to know how load the base one and where to put copies, which means it can save a lot of memory by only loading the geometry and textures once.
Further to what Leana has said regarding instances, Roman, decals are something altogether different. Decals are, in the 3D world, for once, exactly what you would expect them to be. In the real world they are symbols or graphics with a transparent background applied to a surface. Same thing in 3D. They can be used to add details to existing textures or surfaces without having to directly edit any texture maps. In Iray the ability to add decals is accomplished with a builtin utility. The Layered Image Editor in DAZ Studio can also be used to overlay logos, symbols, tattoos, etc.
Although you didn't specifically ask about them, the other thing you might hear referenced is the use of billboards, which are often used to accomplish some of the same goals as instancing. The big difference between instancing and billboards is that the former are reproductions of an actual 3D mesh, while the latter are images placed on a 2D plane. Billboards can also be instanced as well, to creat crowds, for example.