| iTool User's Guide: Common Operations |

## Rotation

The iTools provide a number of ways to rotate graphical objects. Objects that are 3-D can be rotated freely or along an axis using the mouse. In addition, both 2-D and 3-D objects can be rotated left or right in 90-degree increments, or they can be rotated by a specified number of degrees. These tools rotate the entire data space.

Note Special consideration should be given when attempting to rotate a graphic image object within iImage. See for more details.

### Mouse Rotation

To rotate a 3-D object with the mouse:

1. Select the object in the iTool window.

2. Click Rotate on the toolbar to enter Rotate mode. The rotation sphere, consisting of circular x-, y-, and z-dimension axes, is displayed around the object, as illustrated in Figure 7-1 and Figure 7-2:

3. 3-D objects can be constrained to rotate only along one of the three displayed axes, or they can be rotated freely.

- To rotate an object along an axis, position the mouse pointer on the axis. The constrained rotation pointer is displayed. Drag in the desired direction to rotate the object along the selected axis.

Figure 7-1: Rotating a 3-D Object

Figure 7-1: Rotating a 3-D Object

- To rotate an object freely, position the mouse pointer anywhere on the object.The free rotation pointer is displayed. Drag in any direction to rotate the object in that direction.

Figure 7-2: Free Rotation

Figure 7-2: Free Rotation

4. Click or select Edit Undo to undo the rotation, or click to leave rotate mode.

### Rotate Left and Rotate Right

To rotate a selected 2-D or 3-D object 90° left or right, select Operations Rotate Rotate Left or Operations Rotate Rotate Right.

Note For three-dimensional objects, the rotation is about the Z axis.

### Rotate by Specified Angle

To rotate a selected 2-D or 3-D object a specific number of degrees, select Operations Rotate Rotate by Angle, specify the number of degrees in the Rotate Angle dialog, and click OK.

Figure 7-3: Rotate Angle Dialog

Figure 7-3: Rotate Angle Dialog

Note For two-dimensional objects (such as plots, images, annotations, contours, and so on) the angle is absolute. The rotation angle is remembered and displayed in the Rotate By Angle dialog. So for example, you can set the angle to zero degrees to make your visualization angle rotate back to zero. For 3D visualizations, Rotate by Angle is relative and does not remember the current rotation angle.

IDL Online Help (March 01, 2006)