So, there’s always this question of “what’s the difference between rotate THEN translate VS translate THEN rotate”?
DOES TRANSLATION VS ROTATION ORDER MATTER?
__YES IT DOES__.
If you do ROTATE THEN TRANSLATE, the effect is __spinning in place__, because ROTATE about axis first (we are still @ origin), then translate OUT to some point in space.
ROTATE THEN TRANSLATE, produces SPINNING effect
If you do TRANSLATE THEN ROTATE, the effect is __ORBITING__ around an axis, because it translates you OUT FIRST, away from the origin, then you rotate that new further point about the origin:
TRANSLATE THEN ROTATE, produces ORBITING effect
Bobobobo's Weblog 