Global. Global space will display a manipulator in the world space orientation, regardless of the object’s hierarchical relationship and the transformations on the object or its parents.

[Figure 11] The joint rotates relative to the global center of the world space coordinate system.

Local. Local space shows a manipulator with the final resulting orientation of the object. It’s the accumulation of an object’s rotations that takes into account all its parents.

Gimbal. Gimbal space (also known as channel space) is the breakdown of the individual local space rotations. The gimbal manipulator displays each axis separately, showing you each rotation channel’s actual orientation, as opposed to the accumulation of them as viewed in local space mode manipulator. (See Figure 13.)

[Figure 12] The joint rotates its pivot based on the global center of the world space coordinate system.

[Figure 13] The joint rotates in gimbal mode, showing the individual rotation channel’s actual orientation, not the accumulation of them, as is shown in local space.