I was playing around with the ASE loader demo and I’m trying to write a program that loads the tank and lets you drive it around using the arrowkeys.
My problem is that I’m not sure which dimensions x, y, and z represent. I know in 2 dimensions, x and y represent height and width. Which is height, width, depth?
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[quote]In normal opengl, positive z is up, positive x is left, positive y is forward. I would suggest sticking with it in your world. Question is, how your models are oriented ?
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Maybe I’m misunderstanding you, but in OpenGL the Y-Axis is “up” and the Z-Axix is “forward” to the viewer. Difficult to say in English for me. 
A picture says more. From the OpenGL Redbook:
Edit: of course I have messed it up - thinking about one, telling second. Corrected (thanks Preston)
In normal opengl, positive x is left, positive y is up, positive z is forward. I would suggest sticking with it in your world. Question is, how your models are oriented ?
if u are saving ase out of 3dsmax at the defult export- then u should seem to look down on your model. in opengl its correct. 3dsmax just uses a different xyz. all u need to do is export as a opengl xyz instead. u can set this in max 
Aight, I figured it out, thanks. I said I was playing with the ASE loader demo, I meant the one provided in the GSG, so I was using Will’s(?) 3ds Max model. I’ll show you my new demo as soon as I get the turret moving properly (ie, not so it can shoot through the front of the tank itself).
I recommend using TranformGroup Trees for that, perfect at animating tanks (and so it should be since animating tanks was my motivation for coding it in the first place)
Will.
Will, is your own tank model set up for grouping? After reading the tute, it sounds like the model has to be specially prepared for a TG tree to work correctly.