Thanks Bill, I really appreciate the links and the concise summary. It is a shame that there is no simple resolution to this problem. Maybe some day there will be bright young mathematician who will discover another way of doing it that offers the best of both worlds. Since my background is mostly with CAD and object oriented modeling, I have never encountered this problem, even though I have done some fairly complex animations. It surprises me that you mention MAX as being in this group because I have used it quite a bit, but have not had the opportunity to observe gymbal lock. I'll read up on the links you have provided, and get back to you with any questions :-) thanks again