Shapes Instances

Normally, every shape in a Boxshot scene is independent, with its own parameters and materials. You can copy and paste shapes, create multiple copies with Step and Repeat and other tools, but each copy is still a separate object. If you later tweak a shape’s materials, you’ll need to copy its materials to the other shapes to keep them in sync.

Boxshot also provides lightweight objects called instances. Instances don’t store their own properties or materials — they reference the original instead. This tutorial explains what instances are and how to manage them.

Creating Instances

Start with a new scene and a simple hard cover book shape:

Right-click the shape and choose Create Instance from the context menu. Boxshot adds another book to the scene:

Notice the “chain” icon on the right side of the scene tree items –— this indicates the shapes are instances.

Important: All instances of a shape are equal, including the shape you started with. Boxshot doesn’t highlight an “original” in any special way, and changing any instance updates all instances the same way.

Now let’s test it by changing something on one of the books. Here the book preset was changed from “Closed” to “Open a bit”:

The other book changes as well. Boxshot applies edits made to any instance across the entire set. This includes properties and materials, except for visibility, name, and transformations (translation, rotation, and scale). That’s what makes instances so useful: you can place the same object multiple times around the scene while keeping its look and settings consistent.

You can create as many instances as you need using the right-click menu. You can even create instances of instances —– it still results in another instance of the same shape.

Converting Instances Back

You can convert an instance back into a regular, independent shape. Right-click the instance and select Detach Instance. Boxshot will turn the selected item into a normal shape.

Here’s a scene with three book instances:

Select the left one and detach it using Detach Instance:

Now change one of the remaining instances and see what happens:

When you edit an instance, the other instance updates too, but the detached book does not. Detaching is handy when you generate multiple copies using Step and Repeat (or similar tools) and then want to customize just one copy. Create everything as instances, detach the one you need, then adjust it independently.

Automatic Instances Lookup

Complex scenes —– especially those built by repeatedly copying and pasting objects —– can become heavy, slow to load, and sluggish to work with. Converting identical items into instances can help a lot, and Boxshot can automate the process.

Right-click the scene and choose Tools → Convert to Instances…. Boxshot scans the scene and shows a list of objects it can convert into instances.

From there, you can pick which groups to convert, or convert everything to simplify the scene.

Advanced Instances Options

Boxshot doesn’t support instances of groups as a single object. If you click Create Instance on a group, Boxshot creates a group of instances, not an instance of the group itself. All shapes inside that new group become instances linked to their originals, but the group hierarchy is independent and can be reorganized separately.

Several tools can generate multiple copies of objects, including Step and Repeat, Circular Step and Repeat, and Stack. By default, these tools create instances instead of full copies. Instances are much faster, especially for complex or heavy geometry, and using them can significantly improve scene loading, editing responsiveness, and rendering performance.

Copying instances via Edit → Cut/Copy/Paste turns them back into regular shapes. Use Create Instance to clone instances.

Finally, you can select all related instances by right-clicking an instance and choosing Select Other Instances.

More Tutorials

Rendering

• Realistic Rendering — improving scenes visual appearance;
• Lighting — control environment and directional lighting;
• Saturated Reflection — make "rich" colorful reflections;
• Floor Reflection — reflecting scene objects in the floor;
• Job Manager — rendering jobs later;
• GPU Rendering — rendering scenes faster on GPU;
• Rendering Time and Quality — getting more control on rendering;
• Simple and Realistic Lighting — speeding up scene rendering.

Materials

• Texture Slots — how to use texture slots in Boxshot;
• Glass Materials — how to make semi–transparent objects look attractive;
• UV–Spot — how to make a UV–spot effect easily;
• Foil Effect — how to add foil–finishing to your shapes;
• Bump — adding relief to your materials;
• Copying Materials — how to copy materials to other shapes;
• Custom Materials — extend the materials library with your own ones;
• Semi–Transparent Labels — making semi–transparent and partial labels;
• Boxshot Materials — more details about Boxshot materials.

Features

• Boolean Operations — combining and subtracting shapes, making holes;
• Decals — applying decals and configuring them;
• Bump Decals — applying bump where it is needed;
• Depth Of Field — adding more realism to your renderings;
• Tools — read more about Boxshot tools;
• Managing Images — how to manage image files used by Boxshot projects;
• Shapes Instances — creating lightweight copies of other shapes;
• Model Editor — edit embedded models in many ways;
• Shrink Wrap — heat–shrink film simulation for objects wrapping;
• Physics Simulation — applying gravity to your scene;
• Palletize — arrange scene objects for the pallet;
• Snapshots — save scene state to re–use it later;
• Translation — teach Boxshot to speak your language;
• Vector Artwork — how to maintain the quality of vector artwork.

Shapes

• Lathe Objects — making symmetrical objects using revolving curves;
• Loft Objects — making custom objects with 2D cross–sections;
• 3D Text — making 3D text objects in Boxshot;
• Extruded Objects — how to make thick 3D object of your flat 2D curve;
• Conical Labels — making conical labels with distorted artwork;
• Dieline Box — a very realistic dieline–based box;
• Custom Shapes — adding custom shapes to the left panel;
• Solid Shapes — create boolean-friendly shapes;
• Script-Based Solids — create complex solid shapes with code;
• Third Party Shapes — importing third party shapes to Boxshot.