Re: Standardizing coordinate systems, units of measure
Kevin Goldsmith (unitcirc@netcom.com)
Thu, 4 Aug 1994 14:15:32 -0700 (PDT)
>
> In message <9408041201.ZM6121@krypton.engr.sgi.com>, "Gavin Bell" writes:
> >On Aug 4, 11:48am, Linas Vepstas wrote:
> >
>
> Well, personally I like the idea of multiple coordinate systems and units
> of scale, and just have a reference to which type the model uses in the model
> description (this reference could be a URL-type reference all to itself).
> Of course there would still have to be a standard 'conversion' unit of
> scale that every unit must be able to convert to and from. Meters would
> probably be cool for this.
>
I think that a user-definable coordinate system would cause more
harm and confusion than good. You could make a case for this with
multiple units of scale also, but I don't feel as strongly about them
(mostly because a simple scale seems more intuitive that a complete
remapping of cooridinate axes). This also seems to get down to choices
of editors and the like. If a VRML document creator (the person, not the
program) never will look at the "file", then it shouldn't make a
difference, but as I have argued in the past, we need a readable and
understandable file format which someone could easily understand.
If the coordinate system is "up for grabs," reading files in a text
editor could be a really frustrating and upsetting idea.
I also have to put in a vote for Y up, but this is because of personal
bias as opposed to hard-thought out issues.
Kevin