how do I orientate an object using the blue 3d arrow

[Johnny Boy]

I was watching a tutorial about a guy who orientated an image in 3D in AE. He used one of the X Y Z arrows [the blue one z] and flipped the image flat. Did he use any special keys to do this? Because everytime I click on the blue arrow after selecting the rotation tool, only the image flips. The x y z arrows dont rotate. How do I use the arrow to flip orientate an image or object?

[Roei Tzoref]

you need to place the rotation tool exactly on the axis until you see the letter of that axis in order to rotate it. you can also use the timeline orientation/rotation parameters. 

 

[Kyle Hamrick]

It's likely you saw someone using the Rotation tool - it's the little roundy arrow, 4th from the left in the toolbar. You can also call it up by pressing W ("Wotate!").
Using that on a 3d object gives you the ability to free rotate it around all axes, or you can constrain that to a single dimension by clicking-dragging on that axis.