Yeah, any object in your scene can be Instanced.

Although, right now this is not TRUE Instancing, it is just copying the object for you. The benefit of true Instancing will be later implemented.

Yup, Instance trees, water drops, blades of grass...cough spheres over water, whatever.

HDRI - Yes, takes longer since its lighting is by default, more complex.

* Make sure when you are experimenting with an HDRI the QUALITY is set to its lowest value of 16. This will speed things up greatly while you are testing the lighting.

* Use the "Render In Scene" option under the nano preview window, in the IBL /HDRI section of the sky lab. This gives a quicker way of judging the lighting on your scene without having to go back to your main window and render.

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