Instance as object is applying a rotation

I am trying to instance a cube with set dimensions (circled in Green). I am trying to instance the cube over a set of points. I am instancing with no issues, except that I want the instances to be the same as my cube, with is a boring flat object (20mx20mx5m). The results is rotated instances, which look cool, but not what I am going for.

This is a common issue for me, I don’t know of any other settings that would cause “rotation”
attached instance setting if needed:

The issue you’re running into is that vertices by themselves already have a normal, and the particle system is using them to place your object. I think by default, it places them as if they were streaming away from the object origin.

2 solutions:

  1. Click that little “Advanced” check box (under “Hair” in your screenshot). That reveals the “Rotation” options. Change it from default Velocity/Hair to either Global X, Y, or Z depending on what works.

  2. Instead of using a particle system: Make the emitter the parent of the cube (click cube, shift-click emitter, ctrl-P, choose object), then go under the “object properties” tab, expand “Instancing” and choose “Vertices”. I think you have to disable the particle system, I don’t think it will do both. The advantage of this is you don’t have to fiddle around with matching the right number of vertices.

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Great that worked! thank you

I like your second method much better… for simplicity sakes as you mention in your post.

Now that they have been instanced…is there any way to convert those instances to their own object, much like the Convert option when you use particle systems?

image

Object menu → Apply → Make Instances Real

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