Coordinate system

Jeff Sonstein ([email protected])
Fri, 19 May 1995 08:32:54 -0700


pardon me if this seems a naive question, for I am used to PoV-Ray's
coordinate system and find myself getting a bit confused re-reading the
draft specs (I cannot seem to get the final ver)...

with PoV, the coordinate system is "left handed"... meaning, to visualize it
one uses the left hand: index finger pointing forward, thumb pointing up,
and the rest of the fingers curled naturally to the right... positive on the
x-axis is to right (curled fingers), positive on the y-axis is up (thumb),
and positive on the z-axis is forward (index finger). as I try to visualize
a scene for vrml, I get confused... for example, the camera default is
looking along the negative-z and I'm confused as to which "way" that might be.

what is the orientation for the coordinate system in vrml?

thanks in advance for the help, and thanks to the TGS and SGI folks for
their work.

------------------------------------
Jeff Sonstein, M.A.
Networks Administrator
New College of California
50 Fell Street
San Francisco CA 94102
(415) 241 - 1302 ext 490