CSS - perspective

The perspective CSS property determines the distance between the z=0 plane and the user in order to give to the 3D-positioned element some perspective. Each 3D element with z>0 becomes larger; each 3D-element with z<0 becomes smaller. The strength of the effect is determined by the value of this property.

Example

 

HTML Content

HTML
<table>
   <tbody>
      <tr>
         <th><code>perspective: 250px;</code>
         </th>
         <th><code>perspective: 350px;</code>
         </th>
         <th><code>perspective: 500px;</code>
         </th>
      </tr>
      <tr>
         <td>
            <div class="container">
               <div class="cube pers250">
                  <div class="face front">1</div>
                  <div class="face back">2</div>
                  <div class="face right">3</div>
                  <div class="face left">4</div>
                  <div class="face top">5</div>
                  <div class="face bottom">6</div>
               </div>
            </div>
         </td>
         <td>
            <div class="container">
               <div class="cube pers350">
                  <div class="face front">1</div>
                  <div class="face back">2</div>
                  <div class="face right">3</div>
                  <div class="face left">4</div>
                  <div class="face top">5</div>
                  <div class="face bottom">6</div>
               </div>
            </div>
         </td>
         <td>
            <div class="container">
               <div class="cube pers500">
                  <div class="face front">1</div>
                  <div class="face back">2</div>
                  <div class="face right">3</div>
                  <div class="face left">4</div>
                  <div class="face top">5</div>
                  <div class="face bottom">6</div>
               </div>
            </div>
         </td>
      </tr>
   </tbody>
</table>

CSS Content

CSS
/* Shorthand classes for different perspective values */
.pers250 {
    perspective: 250px;
    -webkit-perspective: 250px;
}
.pers350 {
    perspective: 350px;
    -webkit-perspective: 350px;
}
.pers500 {
    perspective: 500px;
    -webkit-perspective: 500px;
}

/* Define the container div, the cube div, and a generic face */
 .container {
   width: 200px;
   height: 200px;
   margin: 75px 0 0 75px;
   border: none;
}
.cube {
   width: 100%;
   height: 100%;
   backface-visibility: visible;
   perspective-origin: 150% 150%;
   transform-style: preserve-3d;
   -webkit-backface-visibility: visible;
   -webkit-perspective-origin: 150% 150%;
   -webkit-transform-style: preserve-3d;
}
.face {
   display: block;
   position: absolute;
   width: 100px;
   height: 100px;
   border: none;
   line-height: 100px;
   font-family: sans-serif;
   font-size: 60px;
   color: white;
   text-align: center;
}

/* Define each face based on direction */
 .front {
   background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.3);
   transform: translateZ(50px);
   -webkit-transform: translateZ(50px);
}
.back {
   background: rgba(0, 255, 0, 1);
   color: black;
   transform: rotateY(180deg) translateZ(50px);
   -webkit-transform: rotateY(180deg) translateZ(50px);
}
.right {
   background: rgba(196, 0, 0, 0.7);
   transform: rotateY(90deg) translateZ(50px);
   -webkit-transform: rotateY(90deg) translateZ(50px);
}
.left {
   background: rgba(0, 0, 196, 0.7);
   transform: rotateY(-90deg) translateZ(50px);
   -webkit-transform: rotateY(-90deg) translateZ(50px);
}
.top {
   background: rgba(196, 196, 0, 0.7);
   transform: rotateX(90deg) translateZ(50px);
   -webkit-transform: rotateX(90deg) translateZ(50px)
}
.bottom {
   background: rgba(196, 0, 196, 0.7);
   transform: rotateX(-90deg) translateZ(50px);
   -webkit-transform: rotateX(-90deg) translateZ(50px);
}

/* Make the table a little nicer */
th, p, td {
   background-color: #EEEEEE;
   padding: 10px;
   font-family: sans-serif;
   text-align: left;
}

Result

Syntax  

CSS
/* Keyword value */
perspective: none;

/* <length> values */
perspective: 20px;  
perspective: 3.5em;

/* Global values */
perspective: inherit;
perspective: initial;
perspective: unset;

Values

none
Is a keyword indicating that no perspective transform has to be applied.
<length>
Is a <length> giving the distance from the user to the z=0 plane. It is used to apply a perspective transform to the element and its content. If it 0 or a negative value, no perspective transform is applied.

Formal syntax

CSS
none <a title="Single bar" href="css/value_definition_syntax#single_bar">|</a> <a title="Possible values: a number followed by'em', 'ex', 'ch', 'rem', 'px', 'cm', 'mm', 'in', 'vh', 'vw', 'vmin', 'vmax', 'pt', 'pc' or 'px', like 3px, 1.5cm, -0.5em or 0" href="css/length"><length></a>

Description  

The perspective CSS property determines the distance between the z=0 plane and the user in order to give to the 3D-positioned element some perspective. Each 3D element with z>0 becomes larger; each 3D-element with z<0 becomes smaller. The strength of the effect is determined by the value of this property.

The parts of the 3D elements that are behind the user, i.e. their z-axis coordinate is greater than the value of the perspective CSS property, are not drawn.

The vanishing point is by default placed at the center of the element, but its position can be changed using the perspective-origin property.

Using this property with a value different than 0 and none creates a new stacking context.

Initial valuenone
Applies totransformable elements
Inheritedno
Mediavisual
Computed valuethe absolute length or none
Animatableyes, as a length
Canonical orderthe unique non-ambiguous order defined by the formal grammar
Creates stacking contextyes

Browser Compatibility  

Feature Chrome Firefox (Gecko) Internet Explorer Opera Safari (WebKit)
Basic support

12-webkit10 (10)
45

10 (10)-moz
16 (16)[1]

 10 15-webkit (Yes)-webkit
Feature Android Firefox Mobile (Gecko) IE Phone Opera Mobile Safari Mobile
Basic support 3.0-webkit 10.0 (10)-moz
16.0 (16)[1]		 8.1 (Yes)-webkit (Yes)-webkit

[1] In addition to the unprefixed support, Gecko 45.0 (Firefox 45.0 / Thunderbird 45.0 / SeaMonkey 2.42) added support for a -webkit prefixed version of the property for web compatibility reasons behind the preference layout.css.prefixes.webkit, defaulting to false. Since Gecko 49.0 (Firefox 49.0 / Thunderbird 49.0 / SeaMonkey 2.46) the preference defaults to true.

See Also  

Specifications  

Specification Status Comment
CSS Transforms Level 1
The definition of 'perspective' in that specification.		 Working Draft Initial definition

License

© 2016 Mozilla Contributors
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License v2.5 or later.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-us/docs/web/css/perspective

CSS CSS Property CSS Transforms Experimental Reference