BabylonJS/Babylon.js · error · ReferenceError

Quaternion.Minimize does not make sense

Error message

Quaternion.Minimize does not make sense

What it means

Quaternion.Minimize is a deliberately non-functional placeholder that always throws a ReferenceError. Quaternions represent rotations, so a component-wise minimum (as done for Vector3/Vector4 in Minimize) is mathematically meaningless for them. Babylon.js keeps the static method for API-shape parity with Vector3/Vector4 but forbids its use.

Source

Thrown at packages/dev/core/src/Maths/math.vector.pure.ts:6072

    }

    /**
     * Sets a Quaternion with random values between min and max
     * @param min the minimum random value
     * @param max the maximum random value
     * @param ref the ref to store the values in
     * @returns the ref with random values between min and max
     */
    public static RandomToRef<T extends Quaternion>(min: number = 0, max: number = 1, ref: T): T {
        return ref.copyFromFloats(RandomRange(min, max), RandomRange(min, max), RandomRange(min, max), RandomRange(min, max));
    }

    /**
     * Do not use
     * @internal
     */
    public static Minimize(): Quaternion {
        throw new ReferenceError("Quaternion.Minimize does not make sense");
    }

    /**
     * Do not use
     * @internal
     */
    public static Maximize(): Quaternion {
        throw new ReferenceError("Quaternion.Maximize does not make sense");
    }

    /**
     * Returns the distance (float) between the quaternions "value1" and "value2".
     * @param value1 value to calulate the distance between
     * @param value2 value to calulate the distance between
     * @returns the distance between the two quaternions
     */
    public static Distance(value1: DeepImmutable<Quaternion>, value2: DeepImmutable<Quaternion>): number {
        return Math.sqrt(Quaternion.DistanceSquared(value1, value2));

View on GitHub (pinned to 0592b347b8)

Solutions

1. Remove the call: there is no valid 'minimum quaternion' operation.
2. If you need to interpolate between rotations, use Quaternion.Slerp or Quaternion.SlerpToRef instead.
3. If you meant component-wise min, operate on Vector4s or extract components and compare manually after converting to a comparable representation (e.g. angle).

Example fix

// before
const q = BABYLON.Quaternion.Minimize(q1, q2);

// after
const q = new BABYLON.Quaternion();
BABYLON.Quaternion.SlerpToRef(q1, q2, t, q);

if (typeof BABYLON.Quaternion.Minimize === 'function') {
  throw new Error('Quaternion.Minimize is a forbidden placeholder; use Slerp for rotation blending');
}

const isUsableQuaternionOp = (op: Function | undefined): op is Function =>
  typeof op === 'function' && op !== (BABYLON.Quaternion as any).Minimize;

try {
  result = (BABYLON.Quaternion as any).Minimize(q1, q2);
} catch (e) {
  result = new BABYLON.Quaternion();
  BABYLON.Quaternion.SlerpToRef(q1, q2, 0.5, result);
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling the static method Quaternion.Minimize() with any arguments; there is no code path that ever returns normally.

Common situations: Copy-pasting Vector3.Minimize-style code and swapping the class to Quaternion; generic numeric code that calls Minimize/Maximize uniformly across vector-like types; migrating code from another math library.

Related errors

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• Cannot transform value ${a}

AI-assisted analysis of BabylonJS/Babylon.js@0592b347b8 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c24abc68b8bb10b9. Report an issue: GitHub.