Fundamental rotation
matrices
Principal axes rotation.
Determining the orientation of frame {2}, which is rotated about one of
the three principal axes of frame {1}.
Frame {2} is rotated w.r.t frame {1} by angle 𝜃 about the z-axis of frame
{1}.
The rotation matrix 1𝑅2, known as the fundamental rotation matrix, is
denoted by the symbol 𝑅𝑧(𝜃) or 𝑅(𝑧, 𝜃) or 𝑅𝑧,𝜃.
𝑅𝑧(𝜃) is computed from the dot product of unit vectors along the
principal axes.
The dot product of two unit vectors is the cosine of the angle between
them.
𝐶𝜃 = cos 𝜃 𝑆𝜃 = sin 𝜃
Fundamental rotation matrices for rotation about x-axis and y-axis are,
𝐶𝜃 = cos 𝜃 𝑆𝜃 = sin 𝜃
In homogeneous transform with a rotation by an angle 𝜃 about z-axis
and 𝐷 = 0 0 0 𝑇 .
The fundamental rotation matrices can be multiplied together to represent a
sequence of finite rotations.
The overall rotation matrix representing a rotation of angle 𝜃1 about x-axis
followed by a rotation of angle 𝜃2 about y-axis is given by,
𝑅 = 𝑅𝑦 𝜃2 𝑅𝑥 𝜃1
cos 𝜃2 0 sin 𝜃2 1 0 0
𝑅= 0 1 0 0 cos 𝜃1 −sin 𝜃1
−sin 𝜃2 0 cos 𝜃2 0 sin 𝜃1 cos 𝜃1
cos 𝜃2 sin 𝜃2 sin 𝜃1 sin 𝜃2 cos 𝜃1
𝑅= 0 cos 𝜃1 −sin 𝜃1
−sin 𝜃2 cos 𝜃2 sin 𝜃1 cos 𝜃2 cos 𝜃1
The sequence of multiplication of 𝑅 matrices is very important.
A different sequence may not give the same result and obviously will
not correspond to same orientation of the rotated frame. This is
because the matrix product is not commutative.
Two rotations in general do not result in same orientation and the
resultant rotation matrix depends on the order of rotations.
Another significant factor is how the rotations are performed. There
are two alternatives.
1. To perform successive rotations about the principal axes of the fixed
frame.
2. To perform successive rotations about the current principal axes of
a moving frame.
Effect of order of rotations of a cuboid about principal axes of a fixed frame.
Effect of order of rotations of a cuboid about axes of the moving frame.
Fixed angle representation
Each rotation is specified about an axis of fixed reference frame.
Let the fixed frame {1} and moving frame {2} be initially coincident.
Consider the following sequence of rotations about the three axes of
fixed frame. These rotations are referred as XYZ-fixed angle rotations.
1. Moving frame {2} is rotated by an angle 𝜃1 about X-axis to frame
{2’}.
This rotation is described by the rotation matrix 𝑅𝑥(𝜃1).
2. The frame {2’} is rotated by an angle 𝜃2 about Y-axis to give frame
{2”}.
This rotation is described by the rotation matrix 𝑅𝑦(𝜃2).
3. The frame {2”} is rotated by an angle 𝜃3 about Z-axis to give frame
{2}.
This rotation is described by the rotation matrix 𝑅𝑧(𝜃3).
The final frame orientation is obtained by composition of rotations w.r.t
the fixed frame and overall rotation matrix 1𝑅2 is computed by pre-
multiplication of the matrices of elementary rotations.
Where 𝐶𝑖 = cos 𝜃𝑖 and 𝑆𝑖 = sin 𝜃𝑖
Representation of roll, pitch and yaw (RPY) rotations
Euler angle representation
The moving frame, instead of rotating about the principal axes of the
fixed frame, can rotate about its own principal axes.
Consider the rotations of frame {2} w.r.t frame {1}, starting from the
position when the two frames are coincident.
This convention for specifying orientation is called WVU-Euler angle
representation.
1. Frame {2} is rotated by an angle 𝜃1 about its w-axis coincident with
z-axis of frame {1}. The rotated frame is now {2’}.
This rotation is described by the rotation matrix 𝑅𝑤(𝜃1).
2. Moving frame {2’} is rotated by an angle 𝜃2 about v’-axis, the
rotated v-axis to frame {2”}.
This rotation is described by the rotation matrix 𝑅𝑣' (𝜃2).
3. Frame {2”} is rotated by an angle 𝜃3 about its u”-axis, the rotated u-
axis to give frame {2}.
This rotation is described by the rotation matrix 𝑅𝑢“ (𝜃3).
The equivalent rotation matrix is computed by post multiplication of
the matrices of the elementary rotations.
𝑅𝑤𝑣𝑢 𝜃1𝜃2𝜃3 = 1𝑅2 = 1𝑅2' 2𝑅2‘’ 2"𝑅2
= 𝑅𝑤 (𝜃1 )𝑅𝑣' (𝜃2 )𝑅𝑢 " (𝜃3 )
(rotation ordering left to right)
The rotations are performed about the current axes of the moving
frame {uvw}.
𝑅𝑤𝑣𝑢 𝜃1𝜃2𝜃3 = 𝑅𝑤 (𝜃1 )𝑅𝑣' (𝜃2 )𝑅𝑢 " (𝜃3 )
Example 1
The coordinates of point P in frame {1} are 3 2 1 𝑇 . The position vector P is
rotated about the z-axis by 45°. Find the coordinates of point Q, the new position
of point P.
Solution
The rotation about z-axis by 45°
cos 45 − sin 45 0 1/ 2 −1/ 2 0
𝑅𝑍 45° = sin 45 cos 45 0 = 1/ 2 1/ 2 0
0 0 1 0 0 1
𝑄 = 𝑅𝑍 45° 𝑃
1/ 2 −1/ 2 0 3 1/ 2
𝑄 = 1/ 2 1/ 2 0 2 = 5/ 2
0 0 1 1 1
Frame {2} is rotated relative to frame {1} about x-axis by 60°,
Point P in frame {1} is given by,
1𝑃 = 1 𝑅2 2 𝑃
1 0 0 7 2 9
1𝑃 = 0 0.5 −0.866 5 4 = 1.804
0 0.866 0.5 7 6 13.464
0 0 0 1 1 1
From 1𝑇2 in Example 2,
1 0 0
1𝑅 =
2 0 0.5 −0.866
0 0.866 0.5
7
1𝐷 =
2 5
7
The orientation of frame {1} w.r.t frame {2} is given by,
𝑇
1 0 0
2 1
𝑅1 = 𝑅2 = 0 0.5 0.866
0 −0.866 0.5
The position of the origin of frame {1} w.r.t frame {2} is given by,
2𝐷 = − 1𝑅2𝑇 1𝐷2
1
1 0 0 7 −7
2𝐷 = −
1 0 0.5 0.866 5 = −8.562
0 −0.866 0.5 7 0.83
1 0 0 −7
2𝑇 = 0 0.5 0.866 −8.562
1
0 −0.866 0.5 0.83
0 0 0 1
1𝑅
2
1 0 0 cos 30° 0 sin 30° 1 0 0
= 0 cos 60° − sin 60° 0 1 0 0 cos 45° − sin 45°
0 sin 60° cos 60° − sin 30° 0 cos 30° 0 sin 45° cos 45°
0.866 0.354 0.354
1𝑅 =
2 0.433 −0.177 −0.884
−0.25 0.919 0.306