Gimbal Lock

Here is a short animation that I put together to show what happens in Gimbal Lock. If the Y (Green) rotation axis is rotated so that the X (Red) and the Z (Blue) axes are lined up, there is no way to rotate across the imaginary rotation axis (Yellow) from the down position of the arrow to pointing up. What happens instead is a winding path upwards as the 3 axes move simultaneously to correct the position. This can happen if any 2 axes line up.



There are some great video explanations for this on GuerrillaCG.org, you'll most likely notice that is where I got the inspiration behind my animation. It's a two-part video tutorial on how Gimbal Lock can cause some rotation issues.

The Rotation Problem

Euler Rotations Explained
Check 'em out!

-Cliff