Confirmation on forward value

Question

Hi all,

The docs seem to imply that +z is the forward axis:

https://docs.godotengine.org/en/latest/tutorials/3d/using_transforms.html#introducing-transforms

However Vector3.FORWARD is (0, 0, -1).

Is the Vector3 constant a mistake, or am I misunderstanding the docs? I can't seem to find anything on the page that implies -z is forward.

Thanks very much!

Answer 1

No, that Vector3.FORWARD value is correct. Godot's forward look direction is -Z. I'm not sure where the docs imply otherwise?

Comments

Thanks for the reply!

It's a couple of things that I might be misinterpreting. A couple of examples:

A default basis (unmodified) is akin to ... basis.z = Vector3(0, 0, 1)
Shouldn't a default basis.z then be -1?

Following the OpenGL convention, X is the Right axis, Y is the Up axis and Z is the Forward axis.
Should this say -Z is the Forward axis?

Cameras look back (towards Z-Negative)
Doesn't this mean cameras look forward towards z-negative?

I've come from Unity, so please forgive me! Haha

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I'm certainly no expert on proper coordinate system terminology, but perhaps some things could/should be clarified in the docs based on your comments...

Ultimately though, there really is no "standard" orientation definition for 3D applications. Even within game engines, these references vary (as documented in the graphic here).

Godot is considered as a "right-handed" coordinate system where Y is the "up/down" axis, X is the "left/right" axis, and Z is the "forward/backward" axis.

Oh, and welcome to Godot! :)

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Haha thanks! I'll keep digging. I'm still not entirely sure whether it's my interpretation or if the docs could use some clarification, so we'll see how it goes!

Though as far as I can tell, I can't actually find anywhere in those beginning chapters that says forward is -z. It should be on that page I linked, right?