.. auto-generated by script ../../../../utils/nxdl2rst.py from the NXDL source ../../../../base_classes/NXorientation.nxdl.xml

.. index::
    ! NXorientation (base class)
    ! orientation (base class)
    see: orientation (base class); NXorientation

.. _NXorientation:

=============
NXorientation
=============

**Status**:

  base class, extends :ref:`NXobject`, version 1.0

**Description**:

  This is the description for a general orientation of a component - it is used by the
  NXgeometry class

**Symbols**:

  No symbol table

**Groups cited**:
  :ref:`NXgeometry`

.. index:: NXgeometry (base class); used in base class

**Structure**:

  .. index:: value (data field)

  **value[numobj, 6]**: :ref:`NX_FLOAT <NX_FLOAT>` {units=\ :ref:`NX_UNITLESS <NX_UNITLESS>`}

    The orientation information is stored as direction cosines. The direction cosines will
    be between the local coordinate directions and the reference directions (to origin or
    relative NXgeometry). Calling the local unit vectors (x',y',z') and the reference unit
    vectors (x,y,z) the six numbers will be [x' dot x, x' dot y, x' dot z, y' dot x, y' dot
    y, y' dot z] where "dot" is the scalar dot product (cosine of the angle between the unit
    vectors). The unit vectors in both the local and reference coordinates are right-handed
    and orthonormal.

    The pair of groups NXtranslation and NXorientation together
    describe the position of a component.

  **(geometry)**: :ref:`NXgeometry`

    Link to another object if we are using relative positioning, else absent

**Source**:
  Automatically generated from https://github.com/nexusformat/definitions/blob/master/base_classes/NXorientation.nxdl.xml