So I'm writing a program where objects move around spacesim-style, in order to learn how to move things smoothly through 3D space. After messing around with Euler angles a bit, it seems they aren't really appropriate for free-form 3D movement in arbitrary directions, so I decided to move on to what seems to be best for the job - quaternions. I intend for the object to rotate around its local X-Y-Z axes at all times, never around the global X-Y-Z axes.

I've tried to implement a system of rotation using quaternions, but something isn't working. When rotating the object along a single axis, if no previous rotations were undertaken, the thing rotates fine along a given axis. However, when applying one rotation after another has been performed, the second rotation is not always along the local axis it's supposed to be rotating along - for instance, after a rotation of about 90° around the Z axis, a rotation around the Y axis still takes place around the global Y axis, rather than the new local Y axis which is aligned with the global X axis.

Huh. So let's go through this step by step. The mistake must be in here somewhere.

**STEP 1 - Capture Input**

I figured it would be best to use Euler angles (or a Pitch-Yaw-Roll scheme) for capturing player input. At the moment, arrow keys control Pitch and Yaw, whereas Q and E control Roll. I capture player input thus (I am using SFML 1.6):

```
    ///SPEEDS
    float ForwardSpeed = 0.05;
    float TurnSpeed = 0.5;

    //Rotation
    sf::Vector3<float> Rotation;
    Rotation.x = 0;
    Rotation.y = 0;
    Rotation.z = 0;
    //PITCH
    if (m_pApp->GetInput().IsKeyDown(sf::Key::Up) == true)
    {
        Rotation.x -= TurnSpeed;
    }
    if (m_pApp->GetInput().IsKeyDown(sf::Key::Down) == true)
    {
        Rotation.x += TurnSpeed;
    }
    //YAW
    if (m_pApp->GetInput().IsKeyDown(sf::Key::Left) == true)
    {
        Rotation.y -= TurnSpeed;
    }
    if (m_pApp->GetInput().IsKeyDown(sf::Key::Right) == true)
    {
        Rotation.y += TurnSpeed;
    }
    //ROLL
    if (m_pApp->GetInput().IsKeyDown(sf::Key::Q) == true)
    {
        Rotation.z -= TurnSpeed;
    }
    if (m_pApp->GetInput().IsKeyDown(sf::Key::E) == true)
    {
        Rotation.z += TurnSpeed;
    }

    //Translation
    sf::Vector3<float> Translation;
    Translation.x = 0;
    Translation.y = 0;
    Translation.z = 0;

    //Move the entity
    if (Rotation.x != 0 ||
        Rotation.y != 0 ||
        Rotation.z != 0)
    {
        m_Entity->ApplyForce(Translation, Rotation);
    }

```

m\_Entity is the thing I'm trying to rotate. It also contains the quaternion and rotation matrices representing the object's rotation.

**STEP 2 - Update quaternion**

I'm not 100% sure this is the way it's supposed to be done, but this is what I tried doing in Entity::ApplyForce():

```
//Rotation
m_Rotation.x += Rotation.x;
m_Rotation.y += Rotation.y;
m_Rotation.z += Rotation.z;

//Multiply the new Quaternion by the current one.
m_qRotation = Quaternion(m_Rotation.x, m_Rotation.y, m_Rotation.z);// * m_qRotation;

m_qRotation.RotationMatrix(m_RotationMatrix);

```

As you can see, I'm not sure whether it's best to just build a new quaternion from updated Euler angles, or whether I'm supposed to multiply the quaternion representing the change with the quaternion representing the overall current rotation, which is the impression I got when reading [this guide](http://www.cprogramming.com/tutorial/3d/quaternions.html). If the latter, my code would look like this:

```
//Multiply the new Quaternion by the current one.
m_qRotation = Quaternion(Rotation.x, Rotation.y, Rotation.z) * m_qRotation;

```

m\_Rotation is the object's current rotation stored in PYR format; Rotation is the change demanded by player input. Either way, though, the problem might be in my implementation of my Quaternion class. Here is the whole thing:

```
Quaternion::Quaternion(float Pitch, float Yaw, float Roll)
{
    float Pi = 4 * atan(1);

    //Set the values, which came in degrees, to radians for C++ trig functions
    float rYaw = Yaw * Pi / 180;
    float rPitch = Pitch * Pi / 180;
    float rRoll = Roll * Pi / 180;

    //Components
    float C1 = cos(rYaw / 2);
    float C2 = cos(rPitch / 2);
    float C3 = cos(rRoll / 2);
    float S1 = sin(rYaw / 2);
    float S2 = sin(rPitch / 2);
    float S3 = sin(rRoll / 2);

    //Create the final values
    a = ((C1 * C2 * C3) - (S1 * S2 * S3));
    x = (S1 * S2 * C3) + (C1 * C2 * S3);
    y = (S1 * C2 * C3) + (C1 * S2 * S3);
    z = (C1 * S2 * C3) - (S1 * C2 * S3);
}

//Overload the multiplier operator
Quaternion Quaternion::operator* (Quaternion OtherQuat)
{
    float A = (OtherQuat.a * a) - (OtherQuat.x * x) - (OtherQuat.y * y) - (OtherQuat.z * z);
    float X = (OtherQuat.a * x) + (OtherQuat.x * a) + (OtherQuat.y * z) - (OtherQuat.z * y);
    float Y = (OtherQuat.a * y) - (OtherQuat.x * z) - (OtherQuat.y * a) - (OtherQuat.z * x);
    float Z = (OtherQuat.a * z) - (OtherQuat.x * y) - (OtherQuat.y * x) - (OtherQuat.z * a);
    Quaternion NewQuat = Quaternion(0, 0, 0);
    NewQuat.a = A;
    NewQuat.x = X;
    NewQuat.y = Y;
    NewQuat.z = Z;
    return NewQuat;
}

//Calculates a rotation matrix and fills Matrix with it
void Quaternion::RotationMatrix(GLfloat* Matrix)
{
    //Column 1
    Matrix[0] = (a*a) + (x*x) - (y*y) - (z*z);
    Matrix[1] = (2*x*y) + (2*a*z);
    Matrix[2] = (2*x*z) - (2*a*y);
    Matrix[3] = 0;
    //Column 2
    Matrix[4] = (2*x*y) - (2*a*z);
    Matrix[5] = (a*a) - (x*x) + (y*y) - (z*z);
    Matrix[6] = (2*y*z) + (2*a*x);
    Matrix[7] = 0;
    //Column 3
    Matrix[8] = (2*x*z) + (2*a*y);
    Matrix[9] = (2*y*z) - (2*a*x);
    Matrix[10] = (a*a) - (x*x) - (y*y) + (z*z);
    Matrix[11] = 0;
    //Column 4
    Matrix[12] = 0;
    Matrix[13] = 0;
    Matrix[14] = 0;
    Matrix[15] = 1;
}

```

There's probably something in there to make somebody wiser than me cringe, but I can't see it. For converting from Euler angles to a quaternion, I used the "first method" according to [this source](http://www.euclideanspace.com/maths/geometry/rotations/conversions/eulerToQuaternion/index.htm), which also seems to suggest that the equation automatically creates a unit quaternion ("clearly normalized"). For multiplying quaternions, I again drew on [this C++ guide](http://www.cprogramming.com/tutorial/3d/quaternions.html).

**STEP 3 - Deriving a rotation matrix from the quaternion**

Once that is done, as per R. Martinho Fernandes' answer to [this question](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/7938373/from-quaternions-to-opengl-rotations), I try to build a rotation matrix from the quaternion and use that to update my object's rotation, using the above Quaternion::RotationMatrix() code in the following line:

```
m_qRotation.RotationMatrix(m_RotationMatrix);

```

I should note that m\_RotationMatrix is `GLfloat m_RotationMatrix[16]`, as per [the required parameters of glMultMatrix](http://www.opengl.org/sdk/docs/man/xhtml/glMultMatrix.xml), which I believe I am supposed to use later on when displaying the object. It is initialized as:

```
m_RotationMatrix = {1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1};

```

Which I believe is the "neutral" OpenGL rotation matrix (every 4 values together represent a column, correct? Again, I get this from [the glMultMatrix page](http://www.opengl.org/sdk/docs/man/xhtml/glMultMatrix.xml)).

**STEP 4 - Display!**

Finally, we get to the function run each cycle for the object that is supposed to display it.

```
glPushMatrix();

glTranslatef(m_Position.x, m_Position.y, m_Position.z);
glMultMatrixf(m_RotationMatrix);

//glRotatef(m_Rotation.y, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0);
//glRotatef(m_Rotation.z, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0);
//glRotatef(m_Rotation.x, 1.0, 0.0, 0.0);

//glRotatef(m_qRotation.a, m_qRotation.x, m_qRotation.y, m_qRotation.z);

//[...] various code displaying the object's VBO

glPopMatrix();

```

I have left my previous failed attempts there, commented out.

**Conclusion - Sad panda**

That is the conclusion of the life cycle of player input, from cradle to OpenGL-managed grave.

I've obviously not understood something, since the behavior I get isn't the behavior I want or expect. But I'm not particularly experienced with matrix math or quaternions, so I don't have the insight required to see the error in my ways.

Can somebody help me out here?