[GD-Consoles] transforms

[R & D \(GameBrains\) <res...@ga...>]

Hello,
Been quiet here for so long, thought I would post a question :-)  We are =
redesigning our object manager and I was wondering how others are =
handling their object transformations on modern hardware, especially =
machines with hardware T&L.

Overall, it seems to me that there has been a lot of research on =
graphics algorithms, but not on scene graph management for modern =
hardware.  I did a Google search and couldn't find any info on how to =
set up object transform managers to maximize HW T&L, so if somebody =
knows of a term for this that would help my search, please let me know.

Meanwhile, my questions are:
1.  Is anybody using quats for everything, including game models, etc.?
2.  If so, are you building a new matrix from scratch every frame for =
use by HW T&L?
3.  For those using good old matrices, are you building the matrices =
from scratch each frame or updating one?
4.  If you are updating, does modern hardware with T&L choke because you =
are accessing memory?
5.  What are the implications of managing a whole bunch of objects and =
keeping their transform matrices updated and syncronized without chewing =
up performance?
6.  In the "old days" I built my engines to aggressively check what =
angles changed and then called a function specifically written to handle =
the minimal matrix update needed.  Is this still a good way to do =
things?
7.  Are people still manipulating objects using an X, Y, Z angle and =
then generating the matrices internally, or have there other ways of =
doing this I should consider?  (e.g. grabbing Look At/Right/Up vectors =
directly from the matrix and manipulating them, etc.)

Thanks!
Brett Bibby
GameBrains