3D Transforms

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Dr. Foltz

December, 2020

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3D transforms alter an element in a three-dimensional space. Still images simply do not capture what happens!

(Please note that the example in our textbook is quite incomplete; look at the full example in the download files).

Basic Steps

1. Make a space within which to rotate
2. Make a thing to rotate
3. Make the front and back of the thing.
4. Add a transform to rotate when the state changes.

Example

This is essentially the example from our textbook. Note that there are actually two examples combined here.

HTML

<div class="flipper">
	<span class="flipper-object flipper-vertical">
		<span class="panel front">The Front</span>
		<span class="panel back">The Back</span>
	</span>
</div>

<div class="flipper">
	<span class="flipper-object flipper-horizontal">
		<span class="panel front">The Front</span>
		<span class="panel back">The Back</span>
	</span>
</div>

CSS

.flipper {
	perspective: 400px;
	position: relative;
	width: 300px;
	height: 44px;
}

.flipper + .flipper {
	margin-top: 1em;
}

.flipper-object {
	position: absolute;
	width: 100%;
	height: 100%;
	transition: transform 1s;
	transform-style: preserve-3d;
}

.panel {
	display: flex;
	min-height: 44px;
	align-items: center;
	justify-content: center;
	top: 0;
	width: 100%;
	height: 100%;
	position: absolute;
	backface-visibility: hidden;
}

.flipper-vertical .back {
	transform: rotateX(180deg);
}

.flipper-horizontal .back {
	transform: rotateY(180deg);
}

.back {
	background-color: #CC3232;
}

.front {
	background-color: #739328;
}

.flipper:hover .flipper-vertical {
	transform: rotateX(180deg);
}

.flipper:hover .flipper-horizontal {
	transform: rotateY(180deg);
}