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Quaternion Structure

[This documentation is for preview only, and is subject to change in later releases. Blank topics are included as placeholders.]

Describes a four-dimensional vector (x, y, z, w).

Namespace:  Microsoft.WindowsMobile.DirectX
Assembly:  Microsoft.WindowsMobile.DirectX (in Microsoft.WindowsMobile.DirectX.dll)

Syntax

'Declaration
Public Structure Quaternion
'Usage
Dim instance As Quaternion
public struct Quaternion
public value class Quaternion
[<SealedAttribute>]
type Quaternion =  struct end

Remarks

Quaternions extend the concept of rotation in three dimensions to rotation in four dimensions. You can use quaternions to rotate an object about the (x, y, z) vector by an angle theta, where w = cos(theta/2). Quaternion operations are computationally more efficient than 4 × 4 matrix multiplications used for transformations and rotations. A quaternion also represents the most efficient rotation to interpolate between two orientations of an object.

Quaternions add a fourth element to the [x, y, z] values that define a vector, resulting in arbitrary 4-D vectors. However, the following formulas illustrate how each element of a unit quaternion relates to an axis-angle rotation, where q represents a unit quaternion (x, y, z, w), axis is normalized, and theta is the desired counterclockwise (CCW) rotation around the axis.

q.x = sin(theta/2) * axis.x
q.y = sin(theta/2) * axis.y
q.z = sin(theta/2) * axis.z
q.w = cos(theta/2)

Thread Safety

Any public static (Shared in Visual Basic) members of this type are thread safe. Any instance members are not guaranteed to be thread safe.

Platforms

Windows CE, Windows Mobile for Smartphone, Windows Mobile for Pocket PC

The .NET Framework and .NET Compact Framework do not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.

Version Information

.NET Compact Framework

Supported in: 3.5, 2.0

See Also

Reference

Quaternion Members

Microsoft.WindowsMobile.DirectX Namespace

Other Resources

Mobile Direct3D Programming in the .NET Compact Framework