For Instance

[JerryC]

I've run across an annoying issue that crops up from time to time, and I have no idea what I am doing to trigger it. The following error message comes up in the Screwprint Editor:

"Cannot export: Instancing not supported."

There is not much on the Google that says what triggers this. Never ran into it with the 3DC IGS exporter, but the Blender one coughs it up once in a while.

[Chacal]

Simply put: in your Blender scene there are objects that were instanced (Alt+D) instead of duplicated (Shift+D). An instance of an object is also called a linked duplicate.
The exporter apparently doesn't support this.
To fix this, unlink each linked duplicate by pressing "U" / Unlink Object+Data in Edit mode.
It's like a scaling transform on an object, you want to apply it before exporting.
Here's a little more detail on unlinking: http://blender.stackexchange.com/questi ... -duplicate

Linked duplicates are useful because they share the same mesh data, so if you modify one they all change.
E.g. on an engine it is a good idea to have all 12 wheels linked duplicates, until you are sure you won't need to change them again.

[JerryC]

So basically, it's a ghost image, like what happens in a quantum transporter, and it boils down to not paying attention when i'm duplicating an object - hitting "Alt" instead of "Shift". Thanks for the info!

[Bananarama]

3DS Max does the opposite - Click-shift clones an object, but if you want an instance you have to check a box, else it defaults to copy. OTOH, if you select clone from the edit drop-down menu, it defaults to instance. Go figure.