Right-handed vs. left-handed
This can be determined by seeing whichever hand allows you to curl from the x-axis to the z-axis (aka travel counterclockwise) when you point your thumb along the z-axis.
Given only the x-axis and y-axis, you can also use this test to determine which direction the z-axis should be facing: there’s only two directions that are perpendicular to both axes, so try both hands and see which one allows you to curl CCW.
Common coordinate systems in graphics
In order of the OpenGL graphics pipeline:
- Model space. Also called object or local space.
- World space (via model matrix)
- Camera space (via view matrix). Also called eye space or view space.
- Clip space (via projection matrix). Called “unhomogenized screen space” by Mally and homogeneous clip space by Scratchapixel.
- Normalized device coordinates (via perspective divide, performed by OpenGL automatically). Also called “screen space” by Mally.
- Screen space (via viewport transform). Called pixel space by Mally. I’ve also seen raster space, window space, screen space, and simply device space.