Although we can add objects, cameras, and lights through code, it will become very tedious and confusing when we have a lot of objects added to the scene. In SceneKit, this problem can be easily overcome by importing scenes prebuilt in other 3D applications.

All 3D applications such as 3D StudioMax, Maya, Cheetah 3D, and Blender have the ability to export scenes in Collada (.dae) and Alembic (.abc) format. We can import these scenes with lighting, camera, and textured objects into SceneKit directly, without the need for setting up the scene.

In this section, we will import a Collada file into the scene. In the resources folder for this chapter, you will find the monsterScene.DAE file. Drag this file into the current project.

Along with the DAE file, also add the monster.png file to the project, otherwise you will see only the untextured monster mesh in the scene.

Click on the monsterScene.DAE file. If the textured monster is not automatically loaded...