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

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

/* 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:

• <percentage> indicating the position relative to the width of the element. The value may be negative.
• <length> indicating the position using a length value. 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:

• <percentage> indicating the position relative to the height of the element. The value may be negative.
• <length> indicating the position using a length value. 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>

Examples

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