Any way to change axis?

Question

Hello,
I am currently developing a 3d robotic arm simulator in java3d and have hit a problem caused by the axes.
I worked out my kinematic chain matrix, which was calculated looking down the Y-axis, with the Z axis pointing upward, all rotations performed around the Z-axis.
However, Java automatically looks down the Z-axis and points the Y-axis upward. I tried rotating the whole scene around the X-axis, and set up to look down the Y-axis using the following code:
Point3d eye    = new Point3d(0, 10, 0);
          Point3d center = new Point3d(0, 0, 0);
          Vector3d up    = new Vector3d(0, 0, -1);
          Transform3D t3d = new Transform3D();
          t3d.lookAt(eye, center, up);
          t3d.invert();
          ViewingPlatform viewingPlatform = u.getViewingPlatform();
          TransformGroup vpTrans = viewingPlatform.getViewPlatformTransform();
          vpTrans.setTransform(t3d);However, whenever I input x, y and z coordinates to my program, it still uses the old axes, i.e Y upward, X to the side and Z into the screen.
I was wondering if anyone can tell me why what I've done here is wrong, and if anyone knows of a way to fix this?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

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For many years, Illustrator has been the only design application that uses the 1st Quadrant (origin at lower left, y-values increasing as you move up the page).
Nonsense. FreeHand, Draw, Designer, Canvas, Xtreme are all illustration programs in Illustrator's same product category, and all use the normal Cartesian coordinate system. Same goes for almost all drawing programs in more exacting disciplines, such as CAD.
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If AI allowed you to set the direction of the Y axis...[various ostensible problems cited]
David,
Why do you consider it inherently less possible or more problematic to provide the Y-axis orientation as a user setting in Illustrator than it is for other programs that already do so?
For example:
Xtreme 5 document with rulers set to normal Y-up orientation:
Object copied, pasted (Paste In Place) into a separate Different document with Y-down orientation:
Both documents saved and open at the same time. No problem copying/pasting between them.
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Adding additional controls adds complexity, and many already feel that Illustrator is a complex product and needs to be simpler.
I quite agree that Illustrator is unnecessarily confused, cluttered, and poorly organized, making it nearly indecipherable to new users. But making a program approachable is an issue of interface design elegance, not a matter of limiting needed functionality. Between Illustrator and Xtreme, which do you consider--on the obvious face of it--more approachable to beginners?
JET