The combination of the transmission. null ellipsometry and the total absorption method is applied to study the 3D orientational configurations of azochromophores in polymethacrylates with azobenzene side groups. The transformation of the initial orientation. due to the photoexcitation of azochromophores is investigated. Under irradiation, if the reorientation mechanism of the photoinduced ordering prevails, the azochromophores are reoriented perpendicularly to the polarization direction of the exciting light, E-ex. In the case where the photoselection ordering mechanism dominates, the 3D distribution of azochromophores in the saturation state of irradiation is isotropic due to a strong exhaustion of the number of anisotropic trans isomers. The observed regularities were earlier described for several other classes of photosensitive polymers, and so they may be common rules for the photoordering in photochromic media.