Ok...here is all I am trying to do...I am trying to write a very simple isometric view program...what im currently doing is just drawing a set of 10x10 quads(made of triangles) which is fine. where i guess things get confusing to me is this: when i rotate the viewing transformation to get a nice angled look this obviously rotates the world coord system ? how can camera movement be done on a program like this with these rotations etc? does this even make sense =P thanks griffonz

Camera movement can be done with rotations and translations but it is easier to use gluLookAt. I think that most OpenGL programmers thinks of roatations and translations affecting a local and not a world coord system. Some typical (pseudo) code:

glLoadIdentity();
gluLookAt(...);
drawQuads(); // in your example

// if you have some object you want to place in the world

for(eachObject) {
glPushMatrix();
glTranslate(...); // move the object to the proper place
glRotate(...); // rotate around itself
drawObject();
glPopMatrix();
}

theres no really need for gluLookAt();

If you use glTranslatef BEFORE glRotatef it can rotate around itself. If you use glTranslatef after glRotatef then it uses the world coordinates.

ok so...lets say I wanted to use gluLookAt..how do I come up with the 3 Vectors gluLookAt takes...I want the cam to be at a -45deg X and 45deg Y and to follow my player.. any ideas ?
GriffonZ