---
id: wiki-2026-0508-instancedmesh
title: InstancedMesh
category: 10_Wiki/Topics
status: verified
canonical_id: self
aliases: [InstancedMesh, GPU Instancing, three.js InstancedMesh]
duplicate_of: none
source_trust_level: A
confidence_score: 0.95
verification_status: applied
tags: [threejs, webgl, gpu-instancing, rendering, performance]
raw_sources: []
last_reinforced: 2026-05-10
github_commit: pending
tech_stack:
  language: JavaScript/TypeScript
  framework: three.js
---

# InstancedMesh

## 매 한 줄
> **"매 thousands of meshes 매 single draw call"**. `THREE.InstancedMesh` 매 same-geometry+material 매 N copies 매 GPU instancing 매 single draw — 매 forest, crowd, particle, voxel 의 standard pattern. 2026 매 r170+ 매 BatchedMesh (multi-geometry instancing) 매 추가됨.

## 매 핵심

### 매 InstancedMesh vs alternatives
- **Mesh × N**: 매 N draw calls. 매 simple, 매 slow at >100.
- **InstancedMesh**: 매 1 draw call, 매 same geom/material, 매 per-instance matrix + color.
- **BatchedMesh** (r150+): 매 1 draw call, 매 different geom 가능, 매 same material.
- **Custom shader InstancedBufferGeometry**: 매 full control, 매 boilerplate.

### 매 Per-instance attributes
- **`setMatrixAt(i, matrix)`** — 매 position/rotation/scale.
- **`setColorAt(i, color)`** — 매 per-instance tint (requires instanceColor).
- **Custom `InstancedBufferAttribute`** — 매 임의 per-instance data (HP, age, type).

### 매 응용
1. **Forest/foliage**: 10k 매 trees 매 60fps.
2. **Crowd simulation**: 매 NPCs 매 unique pose 매 transform.
3. **Voxel terrain**: 매 cube instance 매 chunk.
4. **Particle system**: 매 GPU-driven particle.
5. **Bullet patterns**: 매 bullet hell 매 thousands of bullets.

## 💻 패턴

### Basic InstancedMesh
```javascript
import * as THREE from 'three';

const count = 10000;
const geom = new THREE.BoxGeometry(1, 1, 1);
const mat  = new THREE.MeshStandardMaterial({ color: 0x44aa88 });
const mesh = new THREE.InstancedMesh(geom, mat, count);

const m = new THREE.Matrix4();
for (let i = 0; i < count; i++) {
  m.setPosition(
    (Math.random() - 0.5) * 100,
    (Math.random() - 0.5) * 100,
    (Math.random() - 0.5) * 100
  );
  mesh.setMatrixAt(i, m);
}
mesh.instanceMatrix.needsUpdate = true;
scene.add(mesh);
```

### Per-instance color
```javascript
mesh.instanceColor = new THREE.InstancedBufferAttribute(
  new Float32Array(count * 3), 3
);
const c = new THREE.Color();
for (let i = 0; i < count; i++) {
  c.setHSL(i / count, 0.7, 0.5);
  mesh.setColorAt(i, c);
}
mesh.instanceColor.needsUpdate = true;
```

### Dynamic update (animated swarm)
```javascript
const dummy = new THREE.Object3D();
function tick(time) {
  for (let i = 0; i < count; i++) {
    dummy.position.set(
      Math.sin(time + i) * 10,
      Math.cos(time * 0.5 + i * 0.3) * 5,
      Math.sin(time * 0.3 + i) * 10
    );
    dummy.rotation.y = time + i;
    dummy.updateMatrix();
    mesh.setMatrixAt(i, dummy.matrix);
  }
  mesh.instanceMatrix.needsUpdate = true;
}
```

### Custom per-instance attribute (shader)
```javascript
const hpAttr = new THREE.InstancedBufferAttribute(new Float32Array(count), 1);
geom.setAttribute('aHp', hpAttr);

mat.onBeforeCompile = (shader) => {
  shader.vertexShader = shader.vertexShader
    .replace('#include <common>', `
      #include <common>
      attribute float aHp;
      varying float vHp;
    `)
    .replace('#include <begin_vertex>', `
      #include <begin_vertex>
      vHp = aHp;
    `);
  shader.fragmentShader = shader.fragmentShader
    .replace('#include <common>', `
      #include <common>
      varying float vHp;
    `)
    .replace('#include <dithering_fragment>', `
      gl_FragColor.rgb = mix(vec3(1,0,0), gl_FragColor.rgb, vHp);
      #include <dithering_fragment>
    `);
};
```

### Frustum culling per instance (CPU side)
```javascript
const frustum = new THREE.Frustum().setFromProjectionMatrix(
  new THREE.Matrix4().multiplyMatrices(camera.projectionMatrix, camera.matrixWorldInverse)
);
let visible = 0;
for (let i = 0; i < total; i++) {
  if (frustum.containsPoint(positions[i])) {
    visibleMesh.setMatrixAt(visible++, matrices[i]);
  }
}
visibleMesh.count = visible;
visibleMesh.instanceMatrix.needsUpdate = true;
```

### BatchedMesh (r150+, multi-geometry)
```javascript
const batch = new THREE.BatchedMesh(maxInstances, maxVerts, maxIndices, mat);
const treeId  = batch.addGeometry(treeGeom);
const rockId  = batch.addGeometry(rockGeom);
for (let i = 0; i < 5000; i++) batch.addInstance(i % 2 === 0 ? treeId : rockId);
```

### Raycasting against InstancedMesh
```javascript
const raycaster = new THREE.Raycaster();
raycaster.setFromCamera(mouse, camera);
const hits = raycaster.intersectObject(mesh);
if (hits.length) {
  const i = hits[0].instanceId;
  console.log('Hit instance', i);
}
```

## 매 결정 기준
| 상황 | Approach |
|---|---|
| 매 same geom/material × N (>100) | InstancedMesh |
| 매 different geom × N | BatchedMesh (r150+) |
| 매 fully GPU-driven (compute-style) | InstancedBufferGeometry + WebGPU |
| 매 N < 50 | regular Mesh OK |
| 매 LOD per instance | InstancedMesh × LOD level + custom culling |

**기본값**: 매 N ≥ 100 → InstancedMesh.

## 🔗 Graph
- 부모: [[three.js]] · [[GPU-Instancing]]
- 변형: [[BatchedMesh]]
- 응용: [[Crowd-Simulation]]
- Adjacent: [[WebGPU]] · [[Frustum-Culling]] · [[LOD]]

## 🤖 LLM 활용
**언제**: 매 three.js 매 thousands of repeated objects; 매 WebGL 매 draw call optimization.
**언제 X**: 매 단일 unique mesh; 매 Unity (different API); 매 native C++ engine (use API-specific instancing).

## ❌ 안티패턴
- **Per-frame full rebuild**: 매 모든 matrix 매 update — 매 변하지 않는 instance 매 skip.
- **Forgetting `needsUpdate`**: 매 setMatrixAt 후 매 GPU 매 stale.
- **InstancedMesh × different materials**: 매 불가능 — BatchedMesh or 분리.
- **Raycast against 100k instances every frame**: 매 BVH (three-mesh-bvh) 사용.

## 🧪 검증 / 중복
- Verified (three.js docs r170, official examples webgl_instancing_*, BatchedMesh PR #25556).
- 신뢰도 A.

## 🕓 Changelog
| 날짜 | 변경 |
|---|---|
| 2026-05-08 | Phase 1 |
| 2026-05-10 | Manual cleanup — full content (instancing patterns + BatchedMesh) |
