Using data-oriented design for a scene graph

To represent complex nested visual objects such as robotic arms, planetary systems, or deeply branched animated trees, you can split the object into parts and keep track of the hierarchical relationships between them. A directed graph of parent-child relationships between different objects in a scene is called a scene graph. We are deliberately avoiding using the words "acyclic graph" here because, for convenience, you may decide to use circular references between nodes in a controlled way. Most 3D graphics tutorials aimed at hobbyists lead directly down the simple but non-optimal path we identified in the previous recipe, How not to do a scene graph. Let's go a bit deeper into the rabbit hole and learn how to apply data-oriented design to implement a faster scene graph.

In this recipe, we will learn how to get started with a decently performant scene graph design. Our focus will be on scene graphs with fixed hierarchies...