The method instance()

Question

So,we have this part of code:

var player=load("res://MovingIcon.tscn")
func ready():
var inst=player.instance()
addchild(inst)
pass

I can understand the part of : ( player=load("res://MovingIcon.tscn") ) and the part of
( var inst=player.instance() ), OR we can say also:

var player=load("res://MovingIcon.tscn")
func ready():
addchild(player.instance())
pass

But, what excactly does the instance() method?

Thank you.

Answer 1

If I'm not wrong, it creates a new object from the "template" loaded. Its equivalent is .new(), in exemple var alpha = Line2D.new(). Line2D is the template, and you create a new object from that.

Comments

Hmmm...The new object is not created with the add_child?

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Definitely not, add_child() just renders it on screen. You can try to make an object, add_child() it on the screen, modify it in some way, then call the function remove_child() and add_child() again. You will see that it's the same object, same reference, and the modifications are still here.
Even if the object isn't a child of the scene, it exists in the memory.
That's why you can change its name (or other properties) before adding it to the scene, but not before instancing it.

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Oh i see...Now its clear!Thank you very much!