i only use automxm... works fine for me
yes instances are still a problem importing the mxs into studio. direct render is ok. so... no way to use studio atm...
i have imported my trees, cars and people into sketchup and use proxy instancing with them.
but yes... bigger scenes are a bigger problem.
i'm still hoping for a fix of the component bug with studio... and a region render option in sketchup - this is what i'm really missing in sketchup ...but i don't think that it's possible to realise - at least not so easy.