Yeah. The thing that made me “get” quaternions was thinking about clocks. The hands move around in a 2d plane. You can represent the tips position with just x,y. However the axis that they rotate around is the z axis.
To do a n dimensional rotation you need a n+1 dimensional axis. So to do a 3D rotation you need a 4D axis. This is bassicly a quat.
You can use trig to get there in parts but it requires you to be careful to keep your planes distinct. If your planes get parallel you get gimbal lock. This never happens when working with quats.
I still maintain that quats are the closest you can get to an actual lovecraftian horror in real life. I mean, they were carved into a stone bridge by a crazy mathematician in a fit of madness. How more lovecraftian can you get?
Yeah. The thing that made me “get” quaternions was thinking about clocks. The hands move around in a 2d plane. You can represent the tips position with just x,y. However the axis that they rotate around is the z axis.
To do a n dimensional rotation you need a n+1 dimensional axis. So to do a 3D rotation you need a 4D axis. This is bassicly a quat.
You can use trig to get there in parts but it requires you to be careful to keep your planes distinct. If your planes get parallel you get gimbal lock. This never happens when working with quats.
I still maintain that quats are the closest you can get to an actual lovecraftian horror in real life. I mean, they were carved into a stone bridge by a crazy mathematician in a fit of madness. How more lovecraftian can you get?