Top one is incorrect. Z needs to point outwards.
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A collection of some classic Lemmy memes for your enjoyment
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There are three kinds of people…
Actually…

Dwarf Fortress goes with Blender and the others
I know Z as upward. X and Y were always on the base plane representing length and width. Z comes in being all like, "Now we're being 3D!"
So wherever the "floor" is, represented with gridlines, boundary, canvas, etc. that's where they live. That is Flatland where there is no up or down. It is 2D where most of my work is. If you try tell me Y is Z, I'd ask "wtf is a Z?"
I legit had no idea anybody actually used the upper system until now. I had to read the comments just to see whether the upper system was just some sort of joke. I am horrified.
It depends on how you view 2D->3D.
If you're thinking of a side scroller like the original Super Mario, Y is up/down and X is left/right making the new dimention Z being forward/backward.
However if you think of 2D space like the first LoZ, then Y is North/South and X is East/West making Z up/down
Almost the entirety of computer graphics uses the z coordinate for depth afaik.
Even Minecraft does it.
Z is elevation. Any real world application, z goes up down. 3D applications SHOULD use it for elevation. I despise that many do not. It's so fucking confusing. 2D, sure y go brrr. But once that 3rd dimension is added, y needs to take several seats and quit trying to take on dimensions it doesn't have any right to.
One of my friends and I used to always have this debate because of our different backgrounds. I got used to +Y being up because of doing physics for several years and seeing side-on diagrams that needed to account for gravity. My friend has a background in geology, so he's used to top-down surveying maps where +Z is up. It all depends on your perspective.
But my way is right. We need to have standards, people.
Thanks to 3D printing Z is firmly “up” in my brain even if the modeler I use does it differently.
If 2d, Y up, if 3d Z up.
I always tough as inputs down, answer up. And usually, x is the variable y the result, or xy the variables and z the result
Yeah... As a Blender 3D artist, Z axis has been baked into my brain as the up/down axis.
Z is always depth. Both are correct but define different perspectives. Top is looking across the landscape from an arbitrary floating perspective, bottom is looking down with anchored mapping to the surface.
In 2D Y is up, in 3D Z is up.
X is always red🤷♂️
I’m from a computer graphics background.
Y is down. z is depth. Fight me.
In my brain Z is Up, Z is Height. In my job I have to deal with both all the time which is quite annoying.
In a 2D game Y is up. Going from 2D to 3D would make sense to add another dimension forward to account for depth.
However if you start with a map of a 3D surface then North is Y and East is X you'd add Z to account for elevation like everybody making maps would.
I guess it depends on how you look at it.
y-up ftw
It's easier when writing 3d renderers cause the x and y coordinates of the 3d points eventually become the x and y coordinates of the 2d points on screen and it's easier to keep track of
Don't forget the handedness of each coordinate system!
Z is depth, full stop, and I have my fists raised, Queensbury-style, to anyone who contends otherwise.
Minecraft
There are clearly more than two. In the top image that z-axis is pointing in the wrong direction.
Neither of these are right. X is forward, Y is to the right and Z is down.
Source: https://iansguides.com/tutorials/aircraft-coordinate-system-and-anatomy/
<i,j,k> vector master race.
Unless you're into magnetic resonance and use rotating frames:

Above and below the page/plane is the z-axis.
But some people "hold" the page up in front of them, or down on the table.
I'm the bottom person. X and Y need to be on the same plane.
Technically, regardless of dimensions, x and y always make/share a plane.
But I agree with you, I always imagine Z as jutting out from the plane x and y make.
I am the latter, because if I draw a X-Y plane and lay it on the ground, it aligns with that XYZ reference frame.
Weird didn't everyone learn XY on paper on a desk first? All they did was add z axis to that original concept for elevation which gives us the bottom image.
Top image is like if I held paper straight parallel to my face.
When working in 2 dimensions with gravity, it is common to treat Y as up. E.g, 2d video games, physics problems, computer screens.
That's basically what it comes down to: Is your XY plane a piece of paper that you look at from the top, or is it the pixel coordinates of the screen you are looking through?
That's why X is usually not contested, because it's the same on a piece of paper that you view top-down and on a screen that you view from the front.
Y is then one of the two potential axies for either a top-down or a side-scrolling view, and Z is the remaining axis.

