Six Degrees of Freedom (6DoF) Explained

Six degrees of freedom, or 6DoF, describe three directions of positional movement and three directions of rotation in three-dimensional space.

Moving and turning are different

Position changes as you move left or right, up or down, and forwards or backwards. Rotation changes as you tilt, turn or roll the device or your head. Together, these describe a pose in space.

See the concept in motion

The top row shows translation along X, Y and Z. The bottom row shows pitch, yaw and roll. Together, these are the six independent ways a tracked device can move and turn. The headset is a conceptual illustration.

Why it changes the experience

With positional tracking, walking around a virtual sculpture can reveal a different side. An experience that tracks only rotation can let you look around while keeping the viewpoint in one position. This is commonly described as three degrees of freedom, or 3DoF.

An exhibition example

A virtual object viewed at room scale may depend on a visitor being able to change viewpoint naturally. Design an alternative for people who are seated or cannot move around the installation.

What 6DoF does not guarantee

It does not by itself provide hand tracking, room-scale safety, accurate dimensions or a persistent shared anchor. Those are separate features that must be supported and tested.

Explore related 3D and spatial concepts

Continue with Yaw for a closer look at this part of the experience.

A pose describes the resulting position and orientation at a particular instant; 6DoF describes the independent ways they can change.