My answer is sometimes
I think recommendation questions should reflect our scope.
Questions about using animation and modelling software are not in scope, so asking for a recommendation for such software should be off topic.
Questions about writing software and working with APIs and GPUs are in scope, so asking about the suitability of a specific language, API, GPU model should be on topic.
This should still be a specific question with sufficient detail. The following would not be acceptable:
What is the best GPU?
Which language is best for graphics?
What software should I use for animation?
But asking if a specific piece of software or hardware is compatible with a specific computer graphics task is on topic.
I also think that questions without a specific piece of software or hardware in mind should be on topic provided the question provides sufficient detail to promote objective answers that can back up each recommendation with factual explanation.
This way the answers can be supported by expert knowledge rather than just being a fashion contest.
As for the specific linked question, I see this as a question about working with specific types of computer graphics objects in a well specified way, and asking whether that task has already been automated elsewhere to save duplicating work. That seems a good fit for our site.
This decision will always be subjective (it's areas like this that are the reason we need a community of experts voting, rather than just universal rules). In this case my opinion is swayed by the fact that this is clearly a question from a programmer:
I'm in the process of porting part of this system to Three.js
This means that:
- This question is more likely to be relevant to future programmers and researchers.
- The question poster is someone who will be inclined to ask (and answer) programming questions, and benefit this community.
For these reasons I think this question belongs here.
Potential conflict of interest:
I have a lot of respect for the poster of the example question, having received a lot of help and good advice on Programming Puzzles and Code Golf, and seen a lot of other people helped similarly. I have endeavoured to judge the answer in isolation but there is the potential for bias.
I do not believe this affects my opinion on the general case.