Hello everyone,

I’m conducting a quick poll regarding which up axis current Maya users use.  By default, Maya is using Y as its up axis for its world coordinates.  This can be modified by users in the Preferences. Are there any users out there who use Maya in Z-Up?  If so, please post a ”Yes” below, including the industry you work in (Games, Film, TV, Design Visualization, etc.).  The results of this polling will help in our future FBX development.

Thank you!

Trevor Adams
Autodesk FBX QA

Hi#
In response to your Query : Maya in Z-Up

Yes I do ::  i am a freelance designer concerned with architecture and film.
I utilise Maya for cinematic architecture animation and visual effects but tend to use Rhino for the original modeling [where Z is Up].
Architecture and Construction work out from an initial stage of the site plan [in Maya :: TOP VIEW] so then when you look down on the spatial arrangement the X and Y axes are there to inform the coordinates that can be translated on site to plan and build the structures from GROUND—UP.

I hope that helps.

I would love maya to use Z - Up axis as we use both programs in our games studio. It creates a nightmare importing exporting animations between max maya and motionbuilder.

If and when I do use maya i change it to Z up. But I think there is far and few between us. As most artists are eith max or maya uses and they just use the default settings.

I am not fussed as to what is the right or wrong way I just wish AUTODESK in general unify all there software to have one coordinants system across all packages.

cheers

I use a combination of programs for Product Design, which is my trade. In actuality when parts are made for production the “Z” axis is, for the most part, always up. This is due to machinery utilization of CNC software, where the “Z” axis is the cutting tool.

Rhino3D, as mentioned above, uses “Z” up as does MasterCam which is CNC software. Maya and Pro/Engineer utilizes, by default, “Z” in and out of the screen and “Y” up. This does make it hard to transfer models/concepts back and forth to other software. One can change the orientation of the coordinate system to match your needs but sometimes this is not known to the original designer and ALWAYS adds time/confusion to a project to correct.

For my tastes … I wish “Z” was always up and a standard practice.

Thanks

I’d like max to let you choose a handedness too. In game dev there are a lot of problems with engines using the opposite to 3dsmax. Unity being a example of what I use. Some kind of feature that lets you set the handedness in either the app or exporter would make things MUCH easier and increase compatibility with various realtime rendering applications.