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Web development

CSS Perspective Property, CSS Perspective-origin Property & 3d Cube

CSS Perspective property

Today we’ll talk about the CSS Perspective property, then we’ll go to the CSS Perspective-origin property and in the end, we’ll create the 3d cube using pure CSS.

  1. CSS Perspective property
  2. CSS Perspective-origin property
  3. 3d Cube

Click on/ drag to rotate the Cube:


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CSS Perspective Property

The CSS perspective property is used to give a 3D-positioned element some perspective.

The perspective property defines how far the object is away from the user. So, a lower value will result in a more intensive 3D effect than a higher value.

When defining the perspective property for an element, it is the CHILD elements that get the perspective view, NOT the element itself.

CSS Syntax:

perspective: length|none;

Where:

length– how far the element is placed from the view.

none– default value. Same as 0. The perspective is not set.

Example:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
#el1 {
  position: relative;
  height: 100px;
  width: 100px;
  margin-left: 60px;
  border: 5px solid #2a9d8f;
  perspective: 100px;  
}
#el2, #el4 {
  padding: 35px;
  position: absolute;
  border: 5px solid #e76f51;
  background-color: #e9c46a; 
  transform-style: preserve-3d;
  transform: rotateX(45deg);
  opacity:0.5; 
}
#el3 {
  position: relative;
  height: 100px;
  width: 100px;
  margin-left: 60px;
  border: 5px solid #2a9d8f;
  perspective: none;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>

<h4>perspective: 100px:</h4>
<div id="el1">1
  <div id="el2">2</div>
</div>
<h4>perspective: none:</h4>
<div id="el3">3
  <div id="el4">4</div>
</div>
</body>

Output:

perspective: 100px:

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2

perspective: none:

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4

CSS Perspective-origin Property

The perspective-origin property defines at which position the user is looking at the 3D-positioned element.

When defining the perspective-origin property for an element, it is the CHILD elements that will get the effect, NOT the element itself.

CSS Syntax:

perspective-origin: x-axis y-axis;

Where:

x-axis – defining where the view is placed at the x-axis (left, center, right, length, %). Default value: 50%.

y-axis – defining where the view is placed at the y-axis (top, center, bottom, length, %). Default value: 50%.

Example:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
#element1 {
  position: relative;
  height: 100px;
  width: 100px;
  margin-left: 150px;
  margin-top:30px;
  border: 5px solid #2a9d8f;
  perspective: 100px;
  perspective-origin: right;  
}
#element2, #element4, #element6 {
  padding: 50px;
  position: absolute;
  border: 5px solid #e76f51;
  background-color: #e9c46a; 
  opacity:0.5;
  transform-style: preserve-3d;
  transform: rotateX(45deg);
}
#element3 {
  position: relative;
  height: 100px;
  width: 100px;
  margin-left: 150px;
  margin-top:60px;
  border: 5px solid #2a9d8f;
  perspective: 150px;
  perspective-origin: top left;
}
#element5 {
  position: relative;
  height: 100px;
  width: 100px;
  margin-top:60px;
  margin-left: 150px;
  border: 5px solid #2a9d8f;
  perspective: 100px;
  perspective-origin: -80%;  
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h4>perspective-origin: right:</h4>
<div id="element1">1
  <div id="element2">2</div>
</div>
<h4>perspective-origin: top left:</h4>
<div id="element3">3
  <div id="element4">4</div>
</div>
<h4>perspective-origin: -80%:</h4>
<div id="element5">5
  <div id="element6">6</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>

Output:

perspective-origin: right:

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perspective-origin: top left:

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perspective-origin: -80%:

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3d Cube

Using all knowledge from above we can create now a 3d cube.

We can create cubes setting different perspectives. In the first example, the CSS perspective property is set to 200px, in the second example 900px.

Example1:

Perspective: 200px;

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>

.cube-content {
  perspective: 200px;
}

.cube {
  font-size: 4em;
  width: 2em;
  margin: 1.5em auto;
  transform-style: preserve-3d;
  transform: rotateX(-45deg) rotateY(30deg);
}

.side {
  position: absolute;
  width: 2em;
  height: 2em;
  background-color: #e9c46a;
  color: #264653;
  opacity:0.5;
  border: 1px solid #264653;
  text-align: center;
  line-height: 2em;
}

.front {transform: translateZ(1em);}
.top {transform: rotateX(90deg) translateZ(1em);}
.right {transform: rotateY(90deg) translateZ(1em);}
.left {transform: rotateY(-90deg) translateZ(1em);}
.bottom {transform: rotateX(-90deg) translateZ(1em);}
.back {transform: rotateY(-180deg) translateZ(1em);}
</style>
</head>
<body>

<div class="cube-content">
  <div class="cube">
  <div class="side front">1</div>
  <div class="side back">6</div>
  <div class="side right">4</div>
  <div class="side left">3</div>
  <div class="side top">5</div>
  <div class="side bottom">2</div>
  </div>
</div>

</body>
</html>

Output:

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Example2:

Perspective: 900px:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
.cube-container {
  perspective: 900px;
}

.cube {
  font-size: 4em;
  width: 2em;
  margin: 1.5em auto;
  transform-style: preserve-3d;
  transform: rotateX(-45deg) rotateY(30deg);
}

.side {
  position: absolute;
  width: 2em;
  height: 2em;
  background-color: #e9c46a;
  opacity:0.5;
  border: 1px solid #264653;
  color: #264653;
  text-align: center;
  line-height: 2em;
}

.front {transform: translateZ(1em);}
.top {transform: rotateX(90deg) translateZ(1em);}
.right {transform: rotateY(90deg) translateZ(1em);}
.left {transform: rotateY(-90deg) translateZ(1em);}
.bottom {transform: rotateX(-90deg) translateZ(1em);}
.back {transform: rotateY(-180deg) translateZ(1em);}
</style>
</head>
<body>

<div class="cube-container">
  <div class="cube">
  <div class="side front">1</div>
  <div class="side back">6</div>
  <div class="side right">4</div>
  <div class="side left">3</div>
  <div class="side top">5</div>
  <div class="side bottom">2</div>
  </div>
</div>
</body>
</html>

Output:

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Enjoy coding!

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CSS & jQuery 3d Cube

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