Does anyone know how to exports geometry node instances as real instances in fbx file ?
Add a Realize Instances node… export… no apply neccessary…
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It’s not working, When I import the fbx back to Blender all the instances is a single merged mesh object.
Should I set something special in fbx exporter ?
instANCES.blend (1.0 MB)
Same happens when I try USD export and then import with instances checked in in the options. No instances really. Evrything turns into single big mesh.
And I somehow managed to did it before. in some 2.9 version maybe
Missing
Some of the following features are missing because they are not supported by the FBX format, others may be added later.
- Object instancing – exported objects do not share data, instanced objects will each be written with their own data.
From the manual, looks like this is not supported by Blender currently.
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So it’s not working basicaly? No way to export instanced objects into a game for example?
Fbx? alembic? USD?
PS. Well, it still works for non Geonodes instances . With "make instances real " command
But when I do it for geonodes it just makes a copy and that’s all
USD and Alembic seem to have instance handling in their exporters.
It maybe handy to name the software you are trying to export to…Unity? Houdini? Unreal?
I’ve added a geonodes tag to this post, so maybe this will get some more views from the community.
In fact i need the instances to be imported to 3Dmax scene. Unreal would be ok either. I tried alembic and USD . It’s not working with geonodes instances there too.
So far I see only way is to do small quads in geonodes and put old instances on top of them . But it’s a hell of a pain in an a…
I might be wrong but think that I had it working in one of the previous versions .
or perhaps it was Sverchok I am not sure
Yeah, thinking also i did that already long time ago. Must have been broken by one of the many changes since that.
It works with collection instances. 
If you instance a collection/s and use Ctrl A – make instances real, you will get separate copies of the instances (the original object with the GN modifier will still exist as well)
The new “real instances” still share the mesh data of the original collection objects, so they are instances.
If you then select the new instances, export them in fbx and import them to a new file they are still instances. I was actually surprised it worked!
Edit: I changed the first pic.
Edit 2: Sorry Ctrl A not Atlt A!
From your file I changed the GN setup to instance a cube that is in collection2, I got rid of the realize instance node.
Then I did Ctrl A “make instances real”, selected the new instances and exported them to fbx.
Here is the fbx containing instances. 
instances2.fbx (17.8 KB)
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