# Spaces ## Tier 1 - Cartesian Coordinate Spaces

Space	Dim.	Why It’s Core	Aliases	Translation Vector	What It Means
UV Space	2D	Texture sampling, blending, animation, atlases, UI masking	Texture space, Texcoord space, 2D UVs	`(0.5, 0.5)`	The center of a texture or sprite (50% across U and V)
Object Space	3D	Local mesh space — used in modeling, rigging, deformation	Local space, Model space, Mesh space	`(1, 0, 0)`	1 unit to the right of the object’s pivot (local X axis)
World Space	3D	Scene-level effects, decals, VFX, projection, positioning	Global space, Scene space, Absolute space	`(10, 2, -5)`	A point 10 units right, 2 up, 5 back from world origin
Camera Space	3D	Needed for physical camera simulation, lighting, billboarding, fresnel	View space, Eye space, View-relative space	`(0, 0, -3)`	A point 3 units in front of the camera
Screen Space	2D	UI layout, screen shaders, post-process FX tied to resolution	Pixel space, Raster space, Framebuffer space	`(1920, 1080)`	Bottom-right corner of a 1920x1080 screen
Viewport Space	2D	Resolution-independent layout, fullscreen FX, responsive shaders	Normalized screen space, 0–1 screen space, Screen UVs	`(0.25, 0.75)`	25% from the left, 75% from the bottom of the screen (normalized)
Tangent Space	3D	Local shading basis — used for normal maps, decals, and detail lighting	Surface space, Texture tangent space, TBN space	`(0, 0, 1)`	A direction pointing "out" from the surface (local Z axis)
Bone Space	3D	Used in rigging, skinning, animation — defines how vertices are deformed	Joint space, Skinning space, Bind pose space	`(0, 1.2, 0)`	A vertex 1.2 units above a bone’s local origin (e.g., a joint's Y axis)

##

Space	Origin
UV Space	Bottom-left of the texture → `(0, 0)` in UV coords
Object Space	The pivot point of the object (usually center or base in modeling)
World Space	The global scene origin — Unity's `(0, 0, 0)` in the world
Camera Space	The camera’s position → camera is at `(0, 0, 0)` and looks down -Z
Screen Space	Bottom-left of the screen (0,0) in Unity (unless it's top-left in other systems)
Viewport Space	Bottom-left of screen in normalized space → `(0.0, 0.0)`
Tangent Space	The origin is the current surface point, defined per-fragment or per-vertex
Bone Space	The origin is the base of the bone/joint — local to that bone

## 🥈 Tier 2

Space	Dim.	Why It’s Useful	Also Known As / Aliases	Example Vector	What It Means
Clip Space	4D	Final stage before rasterization; output of MVP transform in vertex shader	Homogeneous clip space, Post-projection space	`(-1, 1, 0.5, 1)`	Top-left corner of screen in clip space (with depth = 0.5)
NDC Space	3D	Screen-aligned normalized coords after perspective divide	Normalized Device Coordinates	`(0, 0, 0.5)`	Center of screen in normalized screen space (Z = 0.5 depth)
Local-to-Parent	3D	Relative transforms for procedural rigs or hierarchy animation	Parent-relative space, Local hierarchy space	`(0, 1, 0)`	1 unit above the parent bone or object
Bone Bind Pose Space	3D	Base pose of mesh before animation; used to calculate skin deformation	Inverse bind space, Rest pose	`(0.2, 0.5, 0)`	Original vertex position relative to its joint’s bind pose
Camera-Relative Space	3D	Used for large-world precision, eye-relative motion, and virtual cameras	Eye-relative, Floating origin space	`(0, 0, -50000)`	A point 50,000 units in front of the camera — used for planetary scale scenes
Screen UV Space	2D	For fullscreen shaders and distortion FX	NDC → UV, Normalized screen space	`(0.5, 0.5)`	Center of the screen (used in post-processing and image effects)
Spherical / Polar Space	2D/3D	Custom projections, procedural effects, panorama/fisheye mapping	Angular space, Radial coordinates	`(θ = 1.57, r = 3)`	A point 3 units away at 90° from the origin (polar coordinates)