Whats wrong with blender?

RecoilUK · Post by **RecoilUK** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 10:06 am

Hi guys

Am I the only person who finds blenders view extremely annoying. Why is the grid positioned the way it is? why is it not positioned the way other 3D programs position it, actually representing depth of objects insted of being on the height plane, it just seems wrong.

Can I change this?

Thanks

wavk · Post by **wavk** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 10:53 am

I'm not sure what you mean. The grid in Blender is placed exactly the way every program does it.

Perhaps you are misguided by Blender's coordinate system. Most programs use the y axis for height, blender uses the z axis for height. This can be confusing at first.

And it gets more confusing when the texture mapping DOES use y for height.

Every option to change the grid is in the 3d window's header menu called 'View'. Click 'View Properties'.

Have fun,

Wybren van Keulen

RecoilUK · Post by **RecoilUK** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 11:14 am

Hi

Thanks for the reply.

PostPosted: 30 Apr 2006 09:53 am Post subject:
I'm not sure what you mean. The grid in Blender is placed exactly the way every program does it.

Errr, I would like to know what programs you have been using, because I havnt seen any do it like this.

Perhaps you are misguided by Blender's coordinate system. Most programs use the y axis for height, blender uses the z axis for height. This can be confusing at first.

Now I am totally confused, if this is correct, in the default view once you have moved the box along the Y axis it goes up and down, does it not?

Thanks

alelink · Post by **alelink** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 11:28 am

Only 3dsMax and Maya have the Y axis on the Height.

RecoilUK · Post by **RecoilUK** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 12:03 pm

Hi guys

Ok, I have figured it out, it starts off in the top view.

This is very strange, if you were to draw a graph, then Y would represent height, and X would represent length, why is this changed in blender, any particular reason?

Thanks

alelink · Post by **alelink** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 12:14 pm

think about this:
when you draw in Autocad, or in a generic 2d program,
you are drawing in XZ plane? no you're in XY plane, so
when you go in the 3rd dimension, you'll have the Z on the height.
It isn't natural?

RecoilUK · Post by **RecoilUK** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 1:22 pm

Hi again

Err your argument just proved my point didnt it?

When drawing in 2D your using the XY plane which is width and height, so to move to 3D you add the Z axis which is depth, so why does blender use Z for the height?

Make sense?

wavk · Post by **wavk** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 1:40 pm

alelink wrote:Only 3dsMax and Maya have the Y axis on the Height.

So does Lightwave.

About what's natural, there's something to say for both methods, it's a shame not every program uses the same system.

nToX · Post by **nToX** » Tue May 02, 2006 4:32 am

It shouldn't take too long to get used too. The only small bother is importing objects from programs that use a different system. You will notice for example, that when you import a .obj file into your existing scene, it will appear to be tipped on its side.

Perhaps the python importers could be altered to handle that for us, but hey, its not that hard to rotate 90degrees anyways.

Good luck

joeri · Post by **joeri** » Wed May 03, 2006 1:54 pm

RecoilUK wrote:Hi again

Err your argument just proved my point didnt it?

When drawing in 2D your using the XY plane which is width and height, so to move to 3D you add the Z axis which is depth, so why does blender use Z for the height?

Make sense?

Only when you stand up right and draw what you see.
Not when you try to draw the ground floor of a building.

There are more discussions on this forum on the view blender opens in.
(ctrl-U saves your prefs btw)
Some apps open 4 views (T-S-F-P), others open 3d persp, others 3d ortho.
Who cares what others do anyway?

As to Y up being natural... Comparing to 2d is nonsens. Depends on where you are drawing a map or a view. I think it has something todo with how polygons know they are pointing inwards or outward,... and then you have lefthanded and righthanded systems... take you left hand point your thumb index and middle finger towards X Y & Z with the thumb towards your face. Now you probably have the second finger on your hand pointing up.

elander · Post by **elander** » Wed May 03, 2006 11:17 pm

I know that 3dstudio allows you to choose if z is up or y is up. You can even choose a right-hand coordinate system or a left-hand coordinate system. It's a mater of choice. Both 3dstudio and maya let you choose this and also Bender to an extent. Just goto the view panel and change it.

nemyax · Post by **nemyax** » Thu May 04, 2006 7:29 am

elander wrote:I know that 3dstudio allows you to choose if z is up or y is up.

No. Only Maya does.

elander · Post by **elander** » Thu May 04, 2006 9:03 pm

I have the 3dstudio8 demo version instaled and i can choose that option.

nToX · Post by **nToX** » Fri May 05, 2006 2:35 am

Thats right, you can change it in the view preferences. I forgot about that

Ok, so we can change it. I don't think I get the point of this topic, because what exactly is wrong with haveing Z instead of Y be up? How is that bad? Just wondering...