WebGL Programming Guide: Interactive 3D Graphics Programming with WebGL

Appendix D. WebGL/OpenGL: Left or Right Handed?

In Chapter 2, “Your First Step with WebGL,” the coordinate system of WebGL was introduced as a right-handed system. However, you will probably come across tutorials and other material on the web that contradict this. In this appendix, you’ll learn the “real” coordinate systems used by WebGL by examining what will happen when something is drawn using WebGL’s default settings. Because WebGL is based on OpenGL, what you learn is equally applicable to OpenGL. You should read this appendix after reading Chapter 7, “Toward the 3D World,” because it refers back to sample programs and explanations in that chapter.

Let’s start by referring to the “font of all knowledge”: the original specification. Specifically, ...