perspective-origin

Summary

The perspective-origin CSS property determines the position the viewer is looking at. It is used as the vanishing point by the perspective property.

Syntax

/* One-value syntax */
perspective-origin: x-position;

/* Two-value syntax */
perspective-origin: x-position y-position;

/* When both x-position and y-position are keywords,
   the following is also valid */
perspective-origin: y-position x-position;

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

Values

x-position

Indicates the position of the abscissa of the vanishing point. It can have one of the following values:

• <length-percentage> indicating the position as an absolute length value or relative to the width of the element. The value may be negative.
• left, a keyword being a shortcut for the 0 length value.
• center, a keyword being a shortcut for the 50% percentage value.
• right, a keyword being a shortcut for the 100% percentage value.

y-position

Indicates the position of the ordinate of the vanishing point. It can have one of the following values:

• <length-percentage> indicating the position as an absolute length value or relative to the height of the element. The value may be negative.
• top, a keyword being a shortcut for the 0 length value.
• center, a keyword being a shortcut for the 50% percentage value.
• bottom, a keyword being a shortcut for the 100% percentage value.

Formal syntax

<position>
where 
<position> = [[ left | center | right | top | bottom | <length-percentage> ] | [ left | center | right | <length-percentage> ] [ top | center | bottom | <length-percentage> ] | [ center | [ left | right ] <length-percentage>? ] && [ center | [ top | bottom ] <length-percentage>? ]]
where 
<length-percentage> = <length> | <percentage>

Example

This example shows cubes with popular perspective-origin values.

HTML content

<table>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <th>
        <code>perspective-origin: top left;</code>
      </th>
      <th>
        <code>perspective-origin: top;</code>
      </th>
      <th>
        <code>perspective-origin: top right;</code>
      </th>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>
        <div class="container">
          <div class="cube potl">
            <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 potm">
            <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 potr">
            <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>
    <tr>
      <th>
        <code>perspective-origin: left;</code>
      </th>
      <th>
        <code>perspective-origin: 50% 50%;</code>
      </th>
      <th>
        <code>perspective-origin: right;</code>
      </th>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>
        <div class="container">
          <div class="cube poml">
            <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 pomm">
            <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 pomr">
            <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>
    <tr>
      <th>
        <code>perspective-origin: bottom left;</code>
      </th>
      <th>
        <code>perspective-origin: bottom;</code>
      </th>
      <th>
        <code>perspective-origin: bottom right;</code>
      </th>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>
        <div class="container">
          <div class="cube pobl">
            <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 pobm">
            <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 pobr">
            <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

/* Shorthand classes for perspective-origin values */
.potl {
  perspective-origin: top left;
  -webkit-perspective-origin: top left;
}

.potm {
  perspective-origin: top;
  -webkit-perspective-origin: top;
}

.potr {
  perspective-origin: top right;
  -webkit-perspective-origin: top right;
}

.poml {
  perspective-origin: left;
  -webkit-perspective-origin: left;
}

.pomm {
  perspective-origin: 50% 50%;
  -webkit-perspective-origin: 50% 50%;
}

.pomr {
  perspective-origin: right;
  -webkit-perspective-origin: right;
}

.pobl {
  perspective-origin: bottom left;
  -webkit-perspective-origin: bottom left;
}

.pobm {
  perspective-origin: bottom;
  -webkit-perspective-origin: bottom;
}

.pobr {
  perspective-origin: bottom right;
  -webkit-perspective-origin: bottom right;
}

/* Define the container div, the cube div, and a generic face */
.container {
  width: 100px;
  height: 100px;
  margin: 24px;
  border: none;
}

.cube {
  width: 100%;
  height: 100%;
  backface-visibility: visible;
  perspective: 300px;
  transform-style: preserve-3d;
  -webkit-backface-visibility: visible;
  -webkit-perspective: 300px;
  -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

Specifications

Browser compatibility

[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

• Using CSS Transforms