3D Glossary--Orthogonal Viewing

Orthogonal Viewing

An ORTHOGONAL view or projection eliminates the effect of distance from a viewpoint, and therefore provides a useful means of locating points and objects in 3-D space.

Orthogonal viewing is contrasted with perspective viewing, in which the apparent scale of an object decreases according to its distance from the viewer. Perspective distortion can make wireframe views of objects and scenes incomprensible, and thus orthagonal viewing is typically used for wireframes, and particularly when modeling objects.

Orthogonal views are inherently limited to the three coordinate axes to produce front, side, and top orthogonal views. In high-end modeling software, these three views and a fourth perspective view are placed together on a single screen. An orthogonal view effectively eliminates one dimension. For example, when working in a front orthogonal view, points can be moved in the x and y dimensions, but not in z.

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