Y-Up Axis viewing mode (not changing how Blender works i.e Z-Up)
Note, this is not a proposal to change blender preferences to support different axis models internally. I read through that post, and understand that that will require a significant amount of work.
I would like to propose having a viewing / rendering mode option which allows you to toggle a different coordinate system e.g Y-Up Left Handed, , Y-Up Right Handed, Z-Up Left Handed etc.
This will allow newbies like me to quickly and easily visualize what the model will look like when exported and used in an app or game which uses a different coordinate system.
This makes it a lot easier to adjust the rotation of the model in Blender to compensate for different external coordinate systems.
It does not necessarily have to do much.... at a minimum, it could just re-adjust your current view of the model (which still functions as Z-Up) to reflect how it will look using Y-Up (by rotating accordingly). Perhaps as an option on the preset viewport toggle on the top right???
It's also possible that Blender already has this, and I just don't know about it.... I did Google around, but didn't find mention of anything along these lines.
Thanks.
9 Comments
This would probably be easy to do with a Python script that changes the mapping of some hotkeys.
Also, maybe vote for this proposal Y-up, finally? although it's at -8 right now. This is just the y-up proposal. I think it would be good to have a choice.
* @Josephbburg *
Thanks For the response... that's the thread that I read through. It seems like there was a lot of contention supporting that, which is why I proposed a view only mode which doesn't require changing how Blender actually functions.
* @Josephbburg * I disagree actually (for selfish reasons that I'll explain)- one would think that having the choice is good but as an addon developer coming from Modo, where such an option does exist it's a complete maintenance nightmare. The number of support requests I had for scripts not working in Y up or X forward or -Z forward can be truly overwhelming. It's much easier to develop addons when you can make logical assumptions about the world space you're working in rather than have a bunch of conditional checks looking for edge cases.
edit: and to clarify, personally I don't care about which cartesian axes are dominant, I don't really have a horse in this race. I just don't want to have to maintain tons of edge cases. so if blender wants to be Y up, fine- i'll update my addons to be Y up, but I won't maintain Z up anymore (etc).
* @testure * That makes sense. I guess it's easier in the long run to just be careful about impot/export code. Anyways, I've always thought z-up was the most logical choice.
* @testure *
Just to clarify.... my proposal isn't to modify any of the internal workings of Blender or any of the add-ons.
I am proposing just spinning the view to reflect how the model will look using a different coordinate system. From that point, you can then just rotate the view of the model as you normally would in Blender i.e. spin it back to the standard Z-Up rotation.
* @driv3l * The difficulty is that (as I understand it), there's quite a lot involved with even "just spinning the view" like you describe. If it were that simple, it would've been done already.
For me, I've gust given up on all that XYZ axis nonsense and have to simply get use to every single app running in it's own way, which IMHO is about as goofy and stupid as all get out. I mean, some apps like it this way, but I have been use to things the smart/correct way of Y=up and X=left/right, which only left Z for depth. I never could understand the whole doing things that completely conflict with actual demensional fact, which has always been X and Y are your 2D up/down left/right which always meant Z was the depth. I think it started with the CAD programs and then infiltrated everything else from there. Which again was stupid and very incorect in the first place, but what ever is how things have to be these days with so many programs deciding to do things how ever they feel like giving no account the reality.
Oh well............ like he said just above, just have to always be use to the import/exporting of your messes and so on...uhg.
...md :)
* @mdunakin13 * The 2D example is assuming you are viewing things from the side. I'd assume that many people saw the XY graph as a top-down view as if it were on a piece of paper, not necessarily from a side view or at least that's how I always saw it. There is no such thing as 'right' or 'correct' XYZ coordinates, it is a matter of how the programmers thought about implementing this system and no one follows one way of doing things.
Take a look at Unreal Engine, Cryengine, Source engine, Rhino, AutoCAD and 3DsMax just to name a few who all use Z up, as an example. I'm pretty sure mechanics and mathematicians also use Z up.
My advice is to adapt to the system you are working with. Unless its a program like Blender where you have the source code available, you will never be able to change the program and getting frustrated over how one system differs than the other will kill productivity and only get you more frustrated in the long run.
At the end of the day, this is all down to preference and will never get in your way as long as there are options to export to Y-up (where there are in most softwares). I'm sure people can get quickly accustomed to new coordinate systems fairly quickly. I'm not saying this is how it is for everyone but for me personally, while studying Maya this wasn't that difficult to get used to.