Why don't you just use this handy tool? With the Direct Manipulation tool, you don't have to worry about rotation order or gimbal lock any more. Euler angles have a problem with rotation order and gimbal lock, period. If you want the x,y and z paramters of the rotation as seperate input fields, you have to live with that. 3ds max 5 has that problem too - use the input fields for rotations, enter 90 degrees in the y field and then try to enter values in the z field - surprise. With a rotation order of XYZ, a 90 degree rotation will align the x and z axis and take you one degree of freedom. In-depth mathematical explanations can be found all over the net, if you want to dive into it. Quaternion representation is a mathematical solution, but none you would want in a text input field. Quaternions are four-dimensional normalized values - (0, 0.7071, 0.7071, 0) is not a very intuitive representation for a 90 degree rotation, is it?