Using a previous 3D engine I could add a container to another container, that way I did not need to render an entire scene every time an object moved.  Also I could add a container which held nothing but a camera and move that container around an object.
    I’m looking for some way to move an object in a large scene but have not been able to implement a similar mechanism.

var cont:ObjectContainer3D = new ObjectContainer3D(),  cont.addChild(somemesh);

I’m looking for some way to move an object in a large scene but have not been able to implement a similar mechanism.

I’m not sure I get this one… is it still related to containers?

Also I could add a container which held nothing but a camera and move that container around an object.
why would you do that? simply move the camera. To move around an object (orbit/hover), you could use the hoverController class.