@tim I need to export train interiors and there are for example many seats inside, all the same geometry. Could you please try to get instances working for FBX? What are we waiting for? 
If it was easy. It would be done.
Hmm, I understand, it’s not easy. But the request has been around for almost 10 years now, so something must be possible.
The FBX format generally supports instances. Please try to solve the problem.
Rhino lacks a universal exchange format that serves as an interface to many other programs.
I don’t think that’s the official McNeel motto… in my experience, it’s more like “if it can be done later, it will be done later”. 
This request has been around for so long that the rest of the industry is now moving to USD rather than FBX… 
(Btw, I don’t even think vertices are merged even for single object exports in FBX from Rhino yet… so it’s always STEP export from Rhino for us, and then let more capable apps convert it to FBX/USD with merged surfaces and instancing.)
I guess you’ll probably be glad to know that another dev is working on USD, not me.
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Unfortunatly STEP doesn’t support mesh objects and the mapping information of NURBS objects are lost. Doe’s USD support mesh and NURBS?
I tried SKP, it support instances, but it has other problems.