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Instance Tools

Instance tools are the set of special tools, created to make the work with the amazing collections instancing feature much easier and faster. You may now feel like working with the Sketchup components, by grouping and editing any objects really easily. You may also quickly edit the source collections of any Flow library assets, without the need of linking and unlikning the source collection from the scene.

Instance Tools can be found in:

  • Flow Panel => Development tools tab
  • Flow main menu (Ctrl + Shift + X)

Edit instance collection

This operator allows you to edit the objects inside the actively selected instance collection. When you click 'Edit Local Instance' button, the source collection will be temporarily linked to the scene and the view will be switched to local, so you can easily edit it's object. Please note, that the changes will affect ALL the instances in your scene!

This function may be really useful when you want to duplicate some objects as a group, so you don't need to edit every one of them or linking the object data.

Remember to click 'CLOSE INSTANCE EDIT' when you finish, before you leave the local view!

Edit nested instance

When one of the objects in the edited instance is also the another instance collection, you may also select it and edit it.

Selection to instance

The function 'Selection to instance' converts the selected objects into a instance collection. It unlinks the source objects from the scene and pastes them as a grouped instance collection, that can be also edited using our tools. You may now duplicate the selected instance in your scene, and when you edit it, the changes will affect also all the duplicates.

Explode instance

Explode instance function converts the actively selected instance into the set of single meshes, that the source instance was containing. The objects will be placed in the same location as the instanced objects before NOTE! This affects only the selected instance! Any other duplicates will remain unchanged. The objects from the source collection will be duplicated and made single-users to avoid unexpected changes in any other instance

Single-user instance

If you want to separate instance collections, to be able to use various props for one type of appended asset, use the function 'Single-user Instance'. This will copy the selected instance collection with a new name in your library. This function will be available only if the active object is a local instance collection.

Convert to single mesh

Convert to single mesh function cretes a SINGLE editable mesh out of the selected (only the active object) instance collection, applying it's all modifiers, custom properties, and converting all models like curves or surfaces into the mesh.