# Prototypes is not located in the children\_Path of PointInstancer, binding a material to PointInstancer cannot override primvars:displayColor;

**URL:** <https://forum.aousd.org/t/prototypes-is-not-located-in-the-children-path-of-pointinstancer-binding-a-material-to-pointinstancer-cannot-override-primvars-displaycolor/1987>\
**Category:** Hydra\
**Tags:** python, cpp, beginner\
**Created:** [November 9, 2024, 4:12pm UTC](https://forum.aousd.org/t/prototypes-is-not-located-in-the-children-path-of-pointinstancer-binding-a-material-to-pointinstancer-cannot-override-primvars-displaycolor/1987 "2024-11-09T16:12:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![mxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@mxx](https://forum.aousd.org/u/mxx)\
**Post date:** [November 9, 2024, 4:12pm UTC](https://forum.aousd.org/t/prototypes-is-not-located-in-the-children-path-of-pointinstancer-binding-a-material-to-pointinstancer-cannot-override-primvars-displaycolor/1987/1 "2024-11-09T16:12:40Z")

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The first situation:

/world/prototypes/public\_prim\_A

/world/some/pointinstancer

/world/mat/metal\_red

color3f /world/some/pointinstancer.primvars:displayColor=[(1,0,0),(0,0,1)]

rel /world/some/pointinstancer.prototypes =\</world/prototypes/public\_prim\_A\>

/world/some/pointinstancer.material:binding = /world/mat/metal\_red

---- **result1** ----- **material Invalid, unable to overwrite displayColor**

The second situation:

/world/some/pointinstancer/public\_prim\_A

/world/some/pointinstancer

/world/mat/metal\_red

color3f /world/some/pointinstancer.primvars:displayColor=[(1,0,0),(0,0,1)]

rel /world/some/pointinstancer.prototypes =\</world/prototypes/public\_prim\_A\>

/world/some/pointinstancer.material:binding = /world/mat/metal\_red

---- **result2** ----- **material active; displayColor and image texture screen mix** ；

What is the reason for this, the reason for passing the primvars attribute?

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/aousd/original/1X/c6eeb5b5da30f817886e91457ef35981e61d87d7.jpeg)  
 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/aousd/original/1X/4581938eace747ebe1c60598dcb10bc4183a9ab5.jpeg)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![spiff](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.aousd.org/spiff/32/22_2.png) [@spiff](https://forum.aousd.org/u/spiff)\
**Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 1:00am UTC](https://forum.aousd.org/t/prototypes-is-not-located-in-the-children-path-of-pointinstancer-binding-a-material-to-pointinstancer-cannot-override-primvars-displaycolor/1987/2 "2024-11-27T01:00:33Z")

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Reclassifying as a Hydra issue, but I’ll note that our workflow and efforts are more focussed on the PointInstancer structure in which prototypes live **underneath** the PointInstancer prim (using native instancing for the prototypes, so that prototypes need not be duplicated for multiple PointInstancers that use them).

When prototypes live elsewhere in the scenegraph, there can be ambiguous or surprising behaviors related to inheritable properties, like primvars.
