# Why does angular rotation not affect the \`rotation\` property of the transform node?

**URL:** <https://forum.babylonjs.com/t/why-does-angular-rotation-not-affect-the-rotation-property-of-the-transform-node/59514>\
**Category:** Questions\
**Tags:** physics\
**Created:** [July 13, 2025, 5:52pm UTC](https://forum.babylonjs.com/t/why-does-angular-rotation-not-affect-the-rotation-property-of-the-transform-node/59514 "2025-07-13T17:52:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![alekop](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex024/user_avatar/forum.babylonjs.com/alekop/32/4380_2.png) [@alekop](https://forum.babylonjs.com/u/alekop)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2025, 5:52pm UTC](https://forum.babylonjs.com/t/why-does-angular-rotation-not-affect-the-rotation-property-of-the-transform-node/59514/1 "2025-07-13T17:52:10Z")

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> **[Babylon.js Playground](https://playground.babylonjs.com/#GQ2E57)**
>
> Babylon.js playground is a live editor for Babylon.js WebGL and WebGPU 3D scenes

The mesh position changes as expected, but the `rotation` doesn’t, even though it’s visibly rotating. Why is that? How can we read the mesh’s current rotation?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![SimoneDev](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex024/user_avatar/forum.babylonjs.com/simonedev/32/44252_2.png) [@SimoneDev](https://forum.babylonjs.com/u/SimoneDev)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2025, 6:47pm UTC](https://forum.babylonjs.com/t/why-does-angular-rotation-not-affect-the-rotation-property-of-the-transform-node/59514/2 "2025-07-13T18:47:09Z")

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The `setAngularVelocity` method is changing the `rotationQuaternion` property of the box rather than `rotation` property. You can refer to it by swapping

```ts
label.text = `pos: ${box.position.y.toFixed(3)}; rot: ${box.rotation.y.toFixed(3)}`

```

with

```ts
label.text = `pos: ${box.position.y.toFixed(3)}; rot: ${box.rotationQuaternion.y.toFixed(3)}`

```

* * *

More details about rotation quaternions here:

> **[Babylon.js docs](https://doc.babylonjs.com/features/featuresDeepDive/mesh/transforms/center_origin/rotation_quaternions)**