Coordinate System
by James Steele · in Torque Game Engine · 06/07/2005 (11:17 pm) · 5 replies
I'm possible being a bit dumb about this, but I can't seem to find any reference on the coordinate system used in Torque. Can anybody point me in the right direction please?
About the author
#2
06/08/2005 (9:59 am)
X+ is forward, Y+ is right, Z+ is up. I might have X/Y swapped; best check me. :) 
#3
06/08/2005 (1:58 pm)
+Z is up, +Y is into the screen, +X is to the right.
#4
Is this the same in world space and model space? This may seem like a dumb question but I know of a certain engine that makes my life hell (and shall remain nameless) that uses two different coordinate systems. Completely Unreal.
Also...I was having a quick look at the Milkshape exporter as I'm using this to quickly build a quick model to prototype something, and couldn't see where any transformation of the model verts/normals happened for Torque.
I'm also curious as to the units used. Is it SI units, or something like 100 units equals 1 metre?
Thanks again guys, and sorry for the bombardment of questions :o)
06/09/2005 (8:53 am)
Thanks guys. Is this the same in world space and model space? This may seem like a dumb question but I know of a certain engine that makes my life hell (and shall remain nameless) that uses two different coordinate systems. Completely Unreal.
Also...I was having a quick look at the Milkshape exporter as I'm using this to quickly build a quick model to prototype something, and couldn't see where any transformation of the model verts/normals happened for Torque.
I'm also curious as to the units used. Is it SI units, or something like 100 units equals 1 metre?
Thanks again guys, and sorry for the bombardment of questions :o)
#5
What? Yeah. I said the same thing myself when I saw that the first time. It's a pain in the ass to work with stuff that's that small in max since max has trouble clipping objects that are too small like that. As a matter of fact, the perspective window the file opens to has the clipping planes tweaked so you can actually see the model but forget about getting up close and looking at details. Max just won't let you do it.
I suspect the model was created that small because who ever programmed the exporter had their max units set to centimeters. I suspect this doesn't necessarily have to be the case though. I don't have the time to test this out right now, at work at the moment, but I suspect if a model was created with units set to meters from the start it would export fine. I say this because I was told that Max does not have a internal scale units separate from display scale units like say Maya does.
Huh? Yeah, that's what I said too. So apparently certain 3D programs, Maya being one of them, actually keep everything in centimeters internally no matter what units you're workig with. So, if your units are set to meters and you create a cube that's 1x1x1, Maya records it internally as 100x100x100 but puts up 1x1x1 in the UI.
Max on the other hand does not do that. You say 1x1x1 then it jots down 1x1x1 then the unit scale in the file tells Max what that number represents. What's ironic is the system that draws stuff like the perspective view in Max seems to be locked to a certain unit size, probably centimeters, that does not display anything below 1 centimeter very well.
You can see this in action by setting the units in Max to meters, create a cube that's 0.01x0.01x0.01, in effect making a cubic centimeter cube. Get close to it and you'll see that it clips wrong. Then you reset, change the units to centimeters, make a cube that's 1x1x1, a cubic centimeter cube, and you have the same clipping problems if you get too close.
Did I make sense? I don't know but it's a pain in the arse never the less...
06/10/2005 (11:49 am)
I think it's 1 unit equals 1 meter in torque. I say this because if you open up player.max you see the orc is only 2 centimeters tall!What? Yeah. I said the same thing myself when I saw that the first time. It's a pain in the ass to work with stuff that's that small in max since max has trouble clipping objects that are too small like that. As a matter of fact, the perspective window the file opens to has the clipping planes tweaked so you can actually see the model but forget about getting up close and looking at details. Max just won't let you do it.
I suspect the model was created that small because who ever programmed the exporter had their max units set to centimeters. I suspect this doesn't necessarily have to be the case though. I don't have the time to test this out right now, at work at the moment, but I suspect if a model was created with units set to meters from the start it would export fine. I say this because I was told that Max does not have a internal scale units separate from display scale units like say Maya does.
Huh? Yeah, that's what I said too. So apparently certain 3D programs, Maya being one of them, actually keep everything in centimeters internally no matter what units you're workig with. So, if your units are set to meters and you create a cube that's 1x1x1, Maya records it internally as 100x100x100 but puts up 1x1x1 in the UI.
Max on the other hand does not do that. You say 1x1x1 then it jots down 1x1x1 then the unit scale in the file tells Max what that number represents. What's ironic is the system that draws stuff like the perspective view in Max seems to be locked to a certain unit size, probably centimeters, that does not display anything below 1 centimeter very well.
You can see this in action by setting the units in Max to meters, create a cube that's 0.01x0.01x0.01, in effect making a cubic centimeter cube. Get close to it and you'll see that it clips wrong. Then you reset, change the units to centimeters, make a cube that's 1x1x1, a cubic centimeter cube, and you have the same clipping problems if you get too close.
Did I make sense? I don't know but it's a pain in the arse never the less...
Torque Owner Claudio Martinez