Quaternions & Rotation

Rotate a cube with unit quaternions versus Euler angles; see gimbal lock.

About this tool

Quaternions normalizes the four entered components before rotating the cube; q and −q therefore encode the same rotation, while the zero quaternion is invalid. Euler mode uses intrinsic YXZ order: yaw about y, pitch about x, then roll about z. At pitch ±90° the yaw and roll axes align (gimbal lock); use the preset to inspect that case.