When to Use Quaternions?

Sophia Al-Mansoor
Sophia Al-Mansoor
• • 6 min read

Quaternions Have Many Advantages over Euler Angles Euler Angles the Euler Angles Are Three Angles Introduced by Leonhard Euler to Describe the Orientation of a...

When to Use Quaternions?

Quaternions have many advantages over Euler angles

Euler angles
The Euler angles are three angles introduced by Leonhard Euler to describe the orientation of a rigid body with respect to a fixed coordinate system. They can also represent the orientation of a mobile frame of reference in physics or the orientation of a general basis in 3-dimensional linear algebra.
› wiki › Euler_angles
and are often preferable for 3D rotations: Easier (and well-defined) interpolation between quaternions (or: orientations): the resulting movement has constant angular velocity around a single axis, which is often aesthetically more pleasing.

What are quaternions used for?

Unit quaternions, known as versors, provide a convenient mathematical notation for representing spatial orientations and rotations of elements in three dimensional space. Specifically, they encode information about an axis-angle rotation about an arbitrary axis.

Must Read

Do we really need quaternions?

Quaternions are necessary because without them your program will suffer from gimbal lock. ... Gimbal lock is only an issue if you use Euler angles. 2. Quaternions use less data than vector rotations.

Sophia Al-Mansoor

Sophia Al-Mansoor

Global Business & E-Commerce Reporter
Linkedin Twitter

Sophia analyzes international trade, startup ecosystems, retail transformation, and supply chain logistics for modern digital publications.