this post was submitted on 01 Dec 2025
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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.
Y-up sorta makes sense in games. Imagine a 2D platformer, Y is up and X is horizontal. Now add depth. Instead of flipping axis just use Z for depth.
But in top down 2D games you also use X and Y but now neither is up
True but I think it’s also because of screen coordinates, Y is always the vertical axis in screen coordinates. So programmers translated that to 3D coordinates because in real world space the screen doesn’t lie flat but is up right. It’s probably why Y is up in OpenGL and calls the depth buffer the Z-Buffer.
That's the core of my point though. Once you add depth it's not 2d space anymore (even though the screen is 2d, the represented field is 3D) and y becomes depth.
It all depends how you perceive the XY plane. Like if your job involves blueprints than XY plane lies flat and horizontal then it makes sense that Z axis is height. Hence why engineering software is all Z-Up. If the XY plane is upright, like screen coordinates, then Z is depth. Hence why many software that is used to create content for the screen is Y-Up. Like Maya, Houdini, Unity, OpenGL etc.
It makes more sense if you've ever drawn in CAD. Top view, x and y. Now side view, y and z or y and x. You look down on x and y, and if you are extruding you now create the z axis dimensions. For the people who draft on the side axis: you are true psychos (ok, unless you're using a lathe I suppose, or if the silhouette is more defined from the side... ok maybe not psycho, just odd)
User look sideways at item on shelf. Designers look down on paper. Both viewpoints are needed for it to be a good object.
Architects do both because they have all that math and something serious to prove.
I do use CAD software but always have my items resting on an x/y plane with z being height. I do some 3d printing and basic cad designs, so z being elevation still makes sense there.
You convinced me. Have an internet point.
Lol I was just ranting into the void but glad it resonated for you.