Confirm the task is maintenance or extension of an existing SceneKit surface; prefer RealityKit for substantial new 3D work.
Inspect scene ownership, node hierarchy, coordinate spaces, camera, lights, and rendering delegate before editing.
Configure geometry, materials, transforms, animation, and physics with explicit lifecycle ownership.
Keep dynamic physics bodies under physics control and perform renderer mutations on the correct thread.
Verify model loading, device rendering, memory, frame time, and SwiftUI/UIKit teardown.

Route by Task

Read core implementation details for scenes, nodes, materials, lighting, cameras, animation, physics, particles, model loading, and SwiftUI hosting.
Read extended SceneKit patterns for custom geometry, shader modifiers, constraints, morph targets, serialization, hit testing, LOD, and renderer delegates.

Core Decisions

Preserve SceneKit for existing pipelines while documenting migration pressure toward RealityKit.
Treat node hierarchy and coordinate conversion as part of the data contract.
Match physics shapes to performance needs instead of defaulting to exact geometry.
Keep camera and lighting explicit so imported scenes do not depend on editor-only defaults.

Common Mistakes

Not adding a camera or lights

// DON'T: Scene renders blank or black -- no camera, no lights
sceneView.scene = scene

// DO: Add camera + lights, or use convenience flags
let cameraNode = SCNNode()
cameraNode.camera = SCNCamera()
cameraNode.position = SCNVector3(0, 5, 15)
scene.rootNode.addChildNode(cameraNode)
sceneView.pointOfView = cameraNode
sceneView.autoenablesDefaultLighting = true

Using exact geometry for physics shapes

// DON'T
node.physicsBody = SCNPhysicsBody(type: .dynamic,
    shape: SCNPhysicsShape(geometry: complexMesh, options: nil))

// DO: Simplified primitive
node.physicsBody = SCNPhysicsBody(type: .dynamic,
    shape: SCNPhysicsShape(
        geometry: SCNBox(width: 1, height: 2, length: 1, chamferRadius: 0),
        options: nil))

Modifying transforms on dynamic bodies

// DON'T: Resets physics simulation
dynamicNode.position = SCNVector3(5, 0, 0)

// DO: Use forces/impulses
dynamicNode.physicsBody?.applyForce(SCNVector3(10, 0, 0), asImpulse: true)

Review Checklist

References

See references/scenekit-patterns.md for custom geometry, shader modifiers, constraints, morph targets, hit testing, scene serialization, render loop delegates, performance, SpriteKit overlay, LOD, and Metal shaders.
SceneKit documentation, SCNSceneSource, SCNView, SceneView
SCNPhysicsShape, SCNShadable
WWDC 2025 session 288: Bring your SceneKit project to RealityKit
Core implementation details -- setup, API wiring, and focused implementation recipes moved out of the entrypoint.

scenekit

SceneKit

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