Canvas 3d JS Library

As the title implies, I’ve spent that last little while juggling axes.  I should probably clarify that that’s axes, the plural of axis, not axe.

I complained a little while ago about everyone having a different layout for their axes.  Depending on who you talk to, x does not always point in the same direction, and one person will claim y points up, while another will say z does.  It is easy enough to just swap the data around IF you know how the original data is laid out, and what layout you want in the end, but hard coding that would exclude anyone using a different system. So, I’ve added an option during conversion, where you tell the computer which axis pointed right, which one pointed up, and which one pointed out of the screen. Then you tell it which axis you want to point in each of those directions and it will dynamically sort out what data gets swapped. While this does exhibit a little bit of bias towards the right-hand-rule, (which would come out as +x+y+z), I can’t see any way of doing this without favouring one system or another. At least this way it’s asking what axis (+ or – and x,y, or z) points in arbitrary fixed directions. Almost everyone can agree that up is up, you just have to tell the converter what axis your system would point in that direction and likewise for right and out.

This also allows you play with the data a bit, turning a simple stroll across the floor holding a length of rope:

into a mighty struggle to climb up the side of a building.

Now that the converter has this option too, the command line is getting a little awkward, so I’m going to start working on a nice user interface to help make it easier to perform complex conversions.