Currently we have the ability to instance a geometry many times, and a special case of that system is the ability to create a single instance of a geometry. While creating a single instance of a geometry may not be obvious, it provides a few benefits.
- Join geometries in the join node without actually merging them, which can be much faster.
- Pick between geometries generated procedurally inside the node tree with the instance on points node.
- Faster transformation of geometry, since the transform doesn't have to be applied to every element, during evaluation.
A node that creates a non-transformed single instance of a geometry is a simple, flexible solution that has no downsides. "Geometry to Instance" is a simple name for this.
One open question is which category this node should be added to:
- Instances: Better categorization, keeps the geometry menu smaller.
- Geometry: Strictly follows the from type category guideline.
Personally I prefer the first option, adding to the instances category.
