---
title: flattenedClone()
framework: scenekit
role: symbol
role_heading: Instance Method
path: scenekit/scnnode/flattenedclone()
---

# flattenedClone()

Creates an optimized copy of the node and its children.

## Declaration

```swift
func flattenedClone() -> Self
```

## Return Value

Return Value A new single node containing the combined geometries and materials of the node and its child node subtree.

## Discussion

Discussion Rendering complex node hierarchies can incur a performance cost. Each geometry and material requires a separate draw command to be sent to the GPU, and each draw command comes with a performance overhead. If you plan for a portion of your scene’s node hierarchy to remain static (with respect to itself, if not the rest of the scene), use this method to create a single node containing all elements of that node hierarchy that SceneKit can render using fewer draw commands.

## See Also

### Copying a Node

- [clone()](scenekit/scnnode/clone().md)