diff --git a/include/osg/Quat b/include/osg/Quat
index 615e47613..8ccf88681 100644
--- a/include/osg/Quat
+++ b/include/osg/Quat
@@ -210,7 +210,11 @@ class SG_EXPORT Quat
             are co-incident or opposite in direction.*/
         void makeRotate( const Vec3& vec1, const Vec3& vec2 );
 
-        /** Return the angle and vector components represented by the quaternion.*/
+        /** make a rotation Quat from euler angles.*/
+        void makeRotate( float heading, float pitch, float roll);
+    
+    
+            /** Return the angle and vector components represented by the quaternion.*/
         void getRotate ( float& angle, float& x, float& y, float& z ) const;
         /** Return the angle and vector represented by the quaternion.*/
         void getRotate ( float& angle, Vec3& vec ) const;
diff --git a/src/osg/Matrix.cpp b/src/osg/Matrix.cpp
index 386d1528f..6bb9f7951 100644
--- a/src/osg/Matrix.cpp
+++ b/src/osg/Matrix.cpp
@@ -149,24 +149,11 @@ void Matrix::makeRotate( const Quat& q )
     q.get(*this);    
 }
 
-void Matrix::makeRotate( float yaw, float pitch, float roll)
+void Matrix::makeRotate( float heading, float pitch, float roll)
 {
-
-    // lifted straight from SOLID library v1.01 Quaternion.h
-    // available from http://www.win.tue.nl/~gino/solid/
-    // and also distributed under the LGPL
-    float cosYaw = cos(yaw / 2);
-    float sinYaw = sin(yaw / 2);
-    float cosPitch = cos(pitch / 2);
-    float sinPitch = sin(pitch / 2);
-    float cosRoll = cos(roll / 2);
-    float sinRoll = sin(roll / 2);
-    Quat q(sinRoll * cosPitch * cosYaw - cosRoll * sinPitch * sinYaw,
-            cosRoll * sinPitch * cosYaw + sinRoll * cosPitch * sinYaw,
-            cosRoll * cosPitch * sinYaw - sinRoll * sinPitch * cosYaw,
-            cosRoll * cosPitch * cosYaw + sinRoll * sinPitch * sinYaw);
-            
-    q.get(*this);
+    Quat quat;
+    quat.makeRotate(heading,pitch,roll);
+    quat.get(*this);
 }
 
 void Matrix::mult( const Matrix& lhs, const Matrix& rhs )
diff --git a/src/osg/Quat.cpp b/src/osg/Quat.cpp
index c58c69764..daf7300b5 100644
--- a/src/osg/Quat.cpp
+++ b/src/osg/Quat.cpp
@@ -36,6 +36,24 @@ void Quat::makeRotate( const float angle, const Vec3& vec )
     makeRotate( angle, vec[0], vec[1], vec[2] );
 }
 
+void Quat::makeRotate( float heading, float pitch, float roll)
+{
+
+    // lifted straight from SOLID library v1.01 Quaternion.h
+    // available from http://www.win.tue.nl/~gino/solid/
+    // and also distributed under the LGPL
+    float cosHeading = cos(heading / 2);
+    float sinHeading = sin(heading / 2);
+    float cosPitch = cos(pitch / 2);
+    float sinPitch = sin(pitch / 2);
+    float cosRoll = cos(roll / 2);
+    float sinRoll = sin(roll / 2);
+    set(sinRoll * cosPitch * cosHeading - cosRoll * sinPitch * sinHeading,
+            cosRoll * sinPitch * cosHeading + sinRoll * cosPitch * sinHeading,
+            cosRoll * cosPitch * sinHeading - sinRoll * sinPitch * cosHeading,
+            cosRoll * cosPitch * cosHeading + sinRoll * sinPitch * sinHeading);
+            
+}
 
 // Make a rotation Quat which will rotate vec1 to vec2
 // Generally take adot product to get the angle between these