From 8a9fbd39562ceefb0675232d8e40c049539f3606 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Richard Zink <Richard Zink>
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 2026 21:31:33 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] Rotate corridor axes: long axis on canvas Y (vertical)

Previous mapping placed the corridor's long axis (flight direction
+Z) on canvas X (horizontal). User observed this as '90deg to
flight direction' because the tiles appeared to scroll sideways on
screen instead of along depth.

Swap so the long axis is on canvas Y (vertical on canvas):
- drawTileAt: canvasX = (perp + halfPerp + 0.5) * TILE_SIZE,
               canvasY = (lng + halfLong + 0.5) * TILE_SIZE
- shader gUv: gUv.x = rotated.y / uGroundSize.x + 0.5 (perp axis),
               gUv.y = rotated.x / uGroundSize.y + 0.5 (long axis)
- uGroundSize call: (PERP, LONG) instead of (LONG, PERP)

Now the corridor's long axis runs vertically on canvas. The screen
mapping (uv.y -> forward distance) reads the long axis as a vertical
strip, matching user expectation that 'forward' tiles scroll top-
to-bottom (or bottom-to-top) as the camera flies.
---
 vendor/clouds3d.js | 26 ++++++++++++++------------
 1 file changed, 14 insertions(+), 12 deletions(-)

diff --git a/vendor/clouds3d.js b/vendor/clouds3d.js
index 04f15aa..3952bf0 100644
--- a/vendor/clouds3d.js
+++ b/vendor/clouds3d.js
@@ -204,11 +204,15 @@ var FRAG_SRC = [
         'vec3 hitPoint = ro + rd * tGround;',
         // Project hitPoint onto the corridor rotated axes (travel ~35 deg). Then divide by per-axis extent so the corridor maps to UV 0..1. The mosaic canvas is drawn in this rotated frame, so the satellite image comes out oriented correctly.
         'vec2 offset = vec2(hitPoint.x, hitPoint.z) - uGroundCenter;',
+        // rotated.x = world Z (corridor long axis, mapped to canvas Y),
+        // rotated.y = -world X (corridor perp, mapped to canvas X).
         'vec2 rotated = vec2(offset.x * 0.0 + offset.y * 1.0, -offset.x * 1.0 + offset.y * 0.0);',
-        'vec2 gUv = rotated / uGroundSize + 0.5;',
+        // Swap components so canvas X = perp direction, canvas Y = long direction
+        'vec2 gUv = vec2(rotated.y / uGroundSize.x + 0.5, rotated.x / uGroundSize.y + 0.5);',
         // Soft fade at UV edges so OOB samples blend to fog instead of producing a hard stripe.
-        'float perpFade = smoothstep(-0.08, 0.05, gUv.y) * smoothstep(1.08, 0.95, gUv.y);',
-        'float longFade = smoothstep(-0.08, 0.05, gUv.x) * smoothstep(1.08, 0.95, gUv.x);',
+        // After swapping gUv axes, perpFade operates on gUv.x and longFade on gUv.y
+        'float perpFade = smoothstep(-0.08, 0.05, gUv.x) * smoothstep(1.08, 0.95, gUv.x);',
+        'float longFade = smoothstep(-0.08, 0.05, gUv.y) * smoothstep(1.08, 0.95, gUv.y);',
         'float edgeFade = perpFade * longFade;',
         'vec3 groundCol = texture2D(uGround, gUv).rgb;',
         'float fogAmount = clamp(tGround / 14.0, 0.0, 1.0);',
@@ -315,14 +319,12 @@ function drawTileAt(lng, perp, dx, dz, centerTileX, centerTileY) {
     var halfLong = Math.floor(GROUND_CORRIDOR_LONG / 2);
     var halfPerp = Math.floor(GROUND_CORRIDOR_PERP / 2);
     // Canvas position: place each tile so its CENTRE sits at the
-    // rotated-frame coordinate (lng, perp). The shader maps
-    // gUv = rotated / uGroundSize + 0.5, so rotated = 0 is at the
-    // canvas centre (canvas_width/2, canvas_height/2). Iterating
-    // (lng, perp) over [-halfLong..halfLong] means tile centres at
-    // halfLong + 0.5 etc. Without the +0.5 the canvas would be
-    // half a tile off from the shader's expectation.
-    var canvasX = (lng + halfLong + 0.5) * GROUND_TILE_SIZE;
-    var canvasY = (perp + halfPerp + 0.5) * GROUND_TILE_SIZE;
+    // rotated-frame coordinate (lng, perp), but with lng along canvas Y
+    // (vertical) and perp along canvas X (horizontal). This way the
+    // corridor's long axis (flight direction +Z) appears as a vertical
+    // strip on canvas, matching the way depth maps on screen.
+    var canvasX = (perp + halfPerp + 0.5) * GROUND_TILE_SIZE;
+    var canvasY = (lng + halfLong + 0.5) * GROUND_TILE_SIZE;
     if (canvasX < 0 || canvasX >= groundCanvas.width || canvasY < 0 || canvasY >= groundCanvas.height) {
         return Promise.resolve(false);
     }
@@ -529,7 +531,7 @@ window.clouds3dRender = function(target) {
         y: groundCenterTile.y - GROUND_BASE_Y
     };
     gl.uniform2f(s.uGroundCenter, centerWorld.x, centerWorld.y);
-    gl.uniform2f(s.uGroundSize, GROUND_CORRIDOR_LONG, GROUND_CORRIDOR_PERP);
+    gl.uniform2f(s.uGroundSize, GROUND_CORRIDOR_PERP, GROUND_CORRIDOR_LONG);
 
     var drift = now * speed * 0.12;
     if (performance.now() - groundLastCheck > 1500) {