Re-add instancing support for objects on the print bed

[mlewis-everley]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe. Prusa Slicer allows adding of "instances" of an object (right click and object on the bed and select "add instance"). For some reason this no longer appears to be possible in Bambu/Orca slicer?

The is an issue logged for Bambu slicer here: https://github.com/bambulab/BambuStudio/issues/496 That seems to discuss the topic extensively.

As mentioned in the topic, I can clone objects, cloned objects behave differently to instances. A basic example would be that if I clone an item with paint on supports, and I adjust the supports, I will need to re-adjust, or re-clone (and re-arrange) the relevant items.

Instances would allow me to just edit the parent item and all instances would then be affected.

Which printers will be beneficial to this feature All?

Describe the solution you'd like Re-add that ability to add instances of an object, as PrusaSlicer does.

[erlis]

+1 to this. The add instance is really useful and I really miss this. My use case is that I have a small part that I need to print a lot of them and I need to "split into objects" oh boy, now I cannot just split the parent object, I need to split one by one and if I do a modifier like, block support then I can't split object... big mess, so far my only solution is to do the split and modifier to all objects one by one... big pain, and the only reason I still use Prusa Slicer, I'm not going to do this manually to 20 objects on the bed....

[pennystockss]

It's so painful. With several plates full of small objects Bambu/Orca could want to use 40+gb of ram and is so sluggish, even with the available memory. Not to mention the file sizes are insane.

[paulorlyk]

It's just inconvenient to print many instances of the same object: There is no easy control for the number of instances - instead of just pressing + or - you need to count them manually and add or remove clones trough context menus. And, most of all, if any feature of the original object changes, custom supports for example, it does not propagate to the clones, and you need to repopulate your bed manually all over again. Please add the instancing support back - it makes life much simpler when mass-producing parts.

[killint87]

The vast majority of my printing is plates full of duplicate parts with very specific z-seam placement and orientation settings. My work efficiency gets crushed without object instancing and really makes Orca a no-go for my workflow which is a massive bummer because I'm in love with its ui and feature set. I want nothing more than to convert from PrusaSlicer but its impossible for me due to the lack of this one feature.

[henleyb]

I agree, it's a huge pain to paint an object and then spend the time cloning and arranging carefully on a plate only to slightly update the design and instead of just replacing one and all its instances also updating I have to basically start the whole process from scratch, it's a huge time waster for me and I dread making any changes.

[github-actions[bot]]

Orca bot: this issue is stale because it has been open for 90 days with no activity.

[mlewis-everley]

I am just going to bump this as it has gone stale, would be great to hear from one of the core devs regarding feasibility?

[CCS86]

@SoftFever any interest in implementing this?

It's a massive pain point when working with duplicate objects. Having to either manually paint every seam / support, manually reload every single object when the geometry model gets updated, etc.

[morganvenable]

Hugely valuable feature for production. 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

[morganvenable]

Honestly this is worth enough time to me and so many other people that I'd put up a cash bounty on it. $1000 when I can use it -- cash in hand, by whatever means necessary. Anyone else willing to chip in to emphasize the value?

[SupItsSaige]

OMG! Looks like it should get added soon at least based on the pull request! THANK GOD! I am trying to switch from PS to Orca (but waiting until Prusa XL 5T is supported). If there were no instances, I would have 100% stayed with PS. That functionality is so important when you are printing a lot of objects and making lots of changes. Glad to see it should come to back to Orca. Exciting!

[morganvenable]

❤️ ❤️ ❤️

[morganvenable]

I'm using this right now and so happy to have it back. However, the "+" button also invokes auto-arrange, which is very slow for large numbers of the same part. This wasn't the case from what I recall in Prusaslicer before -- is this something that can be disabled so the user can call autoarrange only when needed, or use the same placement logic as copy/paste?

[CCS86]

Sweet!