# How to rotate or change orientation of plane node

**URL:** <https://discourse.slicer.org/t/how-to-rotate-or-change-orientation-of-plane-node/25896>\
**Category:** Support\
**Created:** [October 25, 2022, 1:31pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/how-to-rotate-or-change-orientation-of-plane-node/25896 "2022-10-25T13:31:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![seanchoi0519](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/seanchoi0519/32/10354_2.png) [@seanchoi0519](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/seanchoi0519)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 1:31pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/how-to-rotate-or-change-orientation-of-plane-node/25896/1 "2022-10-25T13:31:34Z")

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Hello,

Sorry if this is a dumb question!

Once I’ve set the origin and axes of my newly created plane node, how can I change the orientation of the plane? Is there a way to simply initialize it with initial orientation parameter or do I need to apply a transform using linear algebra?

Programmatically please.

Thanks a lot!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Sunderlandkyl](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/sunderlandkyl/32/79987_2.png) [@Sunderlandkyl](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/Sunderlandkyl)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 2:54pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/how-to-rotate-or-change-orientation-of-plane-node/25896/2 "2022-10-25T14:54:02Z")

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If you only care about the normal direction, you can initialize the orientation with the plane using SetNormal/SetNormalWorld.

You can also define the orientation matrix of the plane directly using:

```python
orientationMatrix = vtk.vtkMatrix4x4()
#... update orientation matrix
planeNode.GetObjectToBaseMatrix().DeepCopy(orientationMatrix)

```