MATLAB: How to rotate entire 3d data with x,y,z values along a particular axis (say x axis)

Question

I need to rotate my 3d dataset defined by x,y,z coordinate along x axis at a specified angle (say 45 degree). This kinds of rotations are often needed when processing scanner and LIDAR data. MATLAB can do exactly what I want to do, but in graphic objects only i.e. using rotate(h,direction,alpha). However, this doesn't change the source data. I need to get the new rotated data, how can I retrieve the new rotated x,y,z data? Or, could you please suggest how to calculate in MATLAB?

Thank you,

Answer 1

Let X,Y,Z be arrays of the rotated points in the dataset. For rotation along the x-axis:

 X = x;
 Y = y*cos(p)-z*sin(p);
 Z = y*sin(p)+z*cos(p);

For rotation p radians in the direction from the y-axis toward the z-axis, that is, in accordance with the "right-hand rule" about the positive x-axis.