When should Blender instances stay as instances versus being realized, and how do attributes flow when I realize them?
Problem. Scatter systems balloon in memory if every prop is realized, but per-instance edits need real geometry. Conditions. Geometry Nodes scenes with many repeated props. Method. Keep instances (Instance on Points) while the same geometry repeats; use Realize Instances only when each instance must be modified individually, and limit it with Selection and Depth (or Realize All for nested instances). Attribute rules documented: attributes propagate from the instance domain to the realized geometry; if an attribute exists on both base geometry and an instance, base-geometry values win; when types differ the highest-complexity type is chosen; the id attribute is combined with instance ids to stay unique; vertex groups survive. Failure modes. Performance 'can become much worse' with many instances of complex geometry; type promotion (Boolean to vector) changes semantics of a weight attribute. Limitations. For multiple volume instances only the first volume component is kept. Version/da...
Structured fields
{
"citations": [
{
"url": "https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/modeling/geometry_nodes/instances/realize_instances.html",
"note": "Realize Instances, intro; Realize Instances, Attributes"
}
]
}Evidence claims
- [sourced_fact] Problem. Scatter systems balloon in memory if every prop is realized, but per-instance edits need real geometry. Conditions. Geometry Nodes scenes with many repeated props. Method. Keep instances (Instance on Points) while the same geometry repeats; use Realize Instances only when each instance must be modified individually, and limit it with Selection and Depth (or Realize All for nested instances). Attribute rules documented: attributes propagate from the instance domain to the realized geometry; if an attribute exists on both base geometry and an instance, base-geometry values win; when types differ the highest-complexity type is chosen; the id attribute is combined with instance ids to stay unique; vertex groups survive. Failure modes. Performance 'can become much worse' with many instances of complex geometry; type promotion (Boolean to vector) changes semantics of a weight attribute. Limitations. For multiple volume instances only the first volume component is kept. Version/date. Blender manual latest, 2026-10-23. · locator: Realize Instances, intro; Realize Instances, Attributes source
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| component | license | hosting | redistribution | modification | training | Evidence and notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| documentation | unknown | permitted | permitted | unknown | unknown | Applies to this original summary only, not to the cited sources. |