Hmmm, I see it's a much deeper issue than I imagined!

I have to agree, though, with those who say that if the use of a real-world mathematical model for rotations limits our ability to do quite reasonable things with virtual objects in virtual space, then the real-life model should be dumped in favour of a less constraining one.

After all, on a lighter note, I can bury Victoria up to her chin in the ground if I want to, and she's still smiling.

I have seen Second Life automatically adjust two axis values when rotating an object or prim around the other axis, whether using world, local or reference axes, so I think they found a practical solution to the problem.

Izi

"If I were a shadow, I know I wouldn't like to be half of what I should be."
Mr Otsuka, the old black tomcat in Kafka on the Shore (Haruki Murakami)