---
title: "Instances"
url: "https://help.maxon.net/r3d/3dsmax/en-us/Content/html/Instances.html"
section_path: "Mesh Topics > Instances"
description: "Instances are lightweight copies of an object that do not contain any geometry data, but rather maintain a link to the original object. Because each …"
---

# Instances

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# Instances

## Introduction

*Instances* are lightweight copies of an object that do not contain any geometry data, but rather maintain a link to the original object. Because each instance only stores a limited amount of data – such as a transform matrix and sometimes material assignment information – they have several advantages over regular copies:

- Instances use much less disk space for scene files.
- Edits to the original are automatically applied to all of its instances, making editing many identical objects much simpler.
- Instances use very little memory when rendering using Redshift and can significantly improve performance.

![Image: worddav62c7ddd0f7da7faff55664ad136a795e3866.png](https://help.maxon.net/r3d/3dsmax/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/worddav62c7ddd0f7da7faff55664ad136a795e3866.png)

*A scene with 1300 instances of a high resolution Buddha model (approximately 880,000 triangles per instance). Over a billion instanced triangles.*

## How To Use

In 3ds Max, instances are created by cloning an object and choosing the *Instance* option. Instances can also be generated by supported scattering tools like iToo's ForestPack.

![Image: worddav9dfb15116d7377fb541c92c01dc768531632.png](https://help.maxon.net/r3d/3dsmax/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/worddav9dfb15116d7377fb541c92c01dc768531632.png)

Like Maya, 3ds Max allows each instance to have unique material assignments.