How can I create pure CSS 3-dimensional spheres?

css css-animations css-shapes css-transforms
I haz kode picture I haz kode · Jul 21, 2017 · Viewed 13.1k times · Source

tl;dr: I would like to create an actual 3d sphere with CSS - not just an illusion

Note: some of the snippet examples are not responsive. Please use full screen.

With pure CSS you can create and animate a 3d cube like so:

I want to create and animate a 3d sphere in the same manner.

So... the first idea I get is to use border-radius and...well... it doesn't work. 

#cube-wrapper {
  position: absolute;
  left: 50%;
  top: 50%;
  perspective: 1500px;
}

.cube {
  position: relative;
  transform-style: preserve-3d;
  animation-name: rotate;
  animation-duration: 30s;
  animation-timing-function: linear;
  animation-iteration-count: infinite;
}

@keyframes rotate {
  0% {
    transform: rotate3d(0, 0, 0, 0);
  }
  100% {
    transform: rotate3d(0, 1, 0, 360deg);
   
    ;
  }
}


.face {
  position: absolute;
  width: 200px;
  height: 200px;
  border: solid green 3px;
  border-radius: 100vw
}


 

#front_face {
  transform: translateX(-100px) translateY(-100px) translateZ(100px);
  background: rgba(255, 0, 0, 0.5);
}

#back_face {
  transform: translateX(-100px) translateY(-100px) translateZ(-100px);
  background: rgba(255, 0, 255, 0.5);
}

#right_face {
  transform: translateY(-100px) rotateY(90deg);
  background: rgba(255, 255, 0, 0.5);
}

#left_face {
  transform: translateY(-100px) translateX(-200px) rotateY(90deg);
  background: rgba(0, 255, 0, 0.5);
}

#top_face {
  transform: translateX(-100px) translateY(-200px) rotateX(90deg);
  background: rgba(0, 255, 255, 0.5);
}

#bottom_face {
  transform: translateX(-100px) rotateX(90deg);
  background: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);
}

.cube {
  transform: rotateX(90deg) rotateY(90deg);
}
<div id="cube-wrapper">
  <div class="cube">
    <div id="front_face" class="face"></div>
    <div id="right_face" class="face"></div>
    <div id="back_face" class="face"></div>
    <div id="left_face" class="face"></div>
    <div id="top_face" class="face"></div>
    <div id="bottom_face" class="face"></div>
  </div>
</div>

So, I reconsidered my approach and looked for a different method.

I looked at:

Then I tried again...the best I got were overly complicated 3d object illusions.

Like this:

body {
  overflow: hidden;
  background: #333;
}

.wrapper {
  margin: 1em;
  animation-duration: 20s;
}

.planet,
.planet:before,
.planet:after {
  height: 300px;
  width: 300px;
  border-radius: 100vw;
  will-change: transform;
  margin: 0 auto;
}

.planet {
  box-shadow: inset 0px 0px 10px 10px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4);
  position: relative;
}

.wrapper,
.planet,
.planet:before {
  animation-name: myrotate;
  animation-duration: 20s;
}

.wrapper,
.planet,
.planet:before,
.planet:after {
  animation-timing-function: linear;
  animation-iteration-count: infinite;
}

.planet:before,
.planet:after {
  content: '';
  position: absolute;
  top: 0;
  left: 0;
}

.planet:before {
  box-shadow: inset 20px 20px 100px 00px rgba(0, 0, 0, .5), 0px 0px 5px 3px rgba(0, 0, 0, .1);
}

.planet:after {
  filter: saturate(2.5);
  background: linear-gradient(rgba(0, 0, 0, 1), transparent), url("https://i.stack.imgur.com/eDYPN.jpg");
  opacity: 0.3;
  box-shadow: inset -20px -20px 14px 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, .2);
  animation-name: myopacity;
  animation-duration: 5000000s;
}

@keyframes myrotate {
  0% {
    transform: rotatez(0deg);
  }
  100% {
    transform: rotatez(360deg);
  }
}

@keyframes myopacity {
  0% {
    background-position: 0px;
    transform: rotatez(0deg);
  }
  50% {
    background-position: 100000000px;
  }
  100% {
    background-position: 0;
    transform: rotatez(-360deg);
  }
}
<div class="wrapper">
  <div class="planet"></div>
</div>

And this:

body {
  background: #131418;
}

.wrapper {
  margin: 1em;
  max-width: 100%;
  position: fixed;
  left: 50%;
  top: 50%;
  transform: translate(-50%, -50%);
}

.planet,
.planet:before,
.planet:after {
  height: 500px;
  width: 500px;
  max-height: 30vw;
  max-width: 30vw;
  border-radius: 100vw;
  will-change: transform;
}

.planet {
  box-shadow: inset 0px 0px 100px 10px rgba(0, 0, 0, .5);
  position: relative;
  float: left;
  margin: 0 2em;
}

.planet,
.planet:before,
.planet:after {
  animation-name: myrotate;
  animation-duration: 10s;
}

.wrapper,
.planet,
.planet:before,
.planet:after {
  animation-timing-function: linear;
  animation-iteration-count: infinite;
}

.planet:before,
.planet:after {
  content: '';
  position: absolute;
  top: 0;
  left: 0;
}

.planet:before {
  box-shadow: inset 50px 100px 50px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, .5), 0 0 50px 3px rgba(0, 0, 0, .25);
  background-image: -webkit-radial-gradient( top, circle cover, #ffffff 0%, #000000 80%);
  opacity: .5;
}

.planet:after {
  opacity: .3;
  background-image: -webkit-radial-gradient( bottom, circle, #ffffff 0%, #000000 -200%);
  box-shadow: inset 0px 0px 100px 50px rgba(0, 0, 0, .5);
}

@keyframes myrotate {
  0% {
    transform: rotatez(0deg);
  }
  100% {
    transform: rotatez(-360deg);
  }
}

.bg {
  background: wheat;
}
<div class="wrapper">
  <div class="planet bg"></div>
</div>

Which are okay until you try to actually rotate them on either the x-axis or the y-axis like the cube in my first example...here's what happens then: (simplified example)

.sphere {
  background: black;
  width: 300px;
  height: 300px;
  border-radius: 100vw;
  animation: myrotate 10s linear infinite
}

@keyframes myrotate {
  0% {
    transform: rotate3d(0, 0, 0, 0);
  }
  100% {
    transform: rotate3d(0, 1, 0, 360deg);
  }
}
<div class="sphere"></div>

All you get is a flat 2d object - which is expeceted considering that it's what the element is

The closest thing I found is the following shape created in a tutorial by Timo Korinth 

@-webkit-keyframes animateWorld {
  0% {
    -webkit-transform: rotateY(0deg) rotateX(0deg) rotateZ(0deg);
  }
  50% {
    -webkit-transform: rotateY(360deg) rotateX(180deg) rotateZ(180deg);
  }
  100% {
    -webkit-transform: rotateY(720deg) rotateX(360deg) rotateZ(360deg);
  }
}

html {
  background: #FFFFFF;
}

. world {
  -webkit-perspective: 1000px;
}

.cube {
  margin-left: auto;
  margin-right: auto;
  position: relative;
  width: 200px;
  height: 200px;
  -webkit-transform-style: preserve-3d;
  -webkit-animation-name: animateWorld;
  -webkit-animation-duration: 10s;
  -webkit-animation-iteration-count: infinite;
  -webkit-animation-timing-function: linear;
}

.circle {
  position: absolute;
  width: 100%;
  height: 100%;
  border: 2px dashed #009BC2;
  border-radius: 50%;
  opacity: 0.8;
  background: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);
}

.zero {
  -webkit-transform: rotateX(90deg);
}

.two {
  -webkit-transform: rotateY(45deg);
}

.three {
  -webkit-transform: rotateY(90deg);
}

.four {
  -webkit-transform: rotateY(135deg);
}

.five {
  width: 173px;
  height: 173px;
  margin: 14px;
  -webkit-transform: rotateX(90deg) translateZ(50px);
}

.six {
  width: 173px;
  height: 173px;
  margin: 14px;
  -webkit-transform: rotateX(90deg) translateZ(-50px);
}
<div class="world">
  <div class="cube">
    <div class="circle zero"></div>
    <div class="circle one"></div>
    <div class="circle two"></div>
    <div class="circle three"></div>
    <div class="circle four"></div>
    <div class="circle five"></div>
    <div class="circle six"></div>
  </div>
</div>

So here's my

Question:

How do I create an actual 3 dimensional sphere with pure CSS? More specifically, one that is covered - not just a frame - and doesn't involve hundreds of html elements.

Notes:

  1. Three dimensional spheres have height, width and depth - just like the cube in my first example snippet
  2. I don't need any physics and there's no need for any user-interaction. Just an animated spinning sphere.

Additional resources:

  1. paulrhayes.com - Spheres
  2. 3d (2d illusion) Earth with Rotating Animation with CSS
  3. Interactive CSS sphere

Answer

Ilya Streltsyn picture Ilya Streltsyn · Jul 26, 2017

Strictly speaking, any "3D" shape on a flat screen is more an illusion of a 3D object. All we see is a 2D projection of that shape on the screen plane, and our brain does its best to guess which shape could give the projection we see. If the projection changes, our brain interprets it as a 3D object changing its orientation, which helps it to determine the shape of this object better.

It works well with non-symmetric objects and objects made from polygons (e.g., cubes), but the sphere is a very special case: its projection on the plane always gives just a circle. The static sphere and the rotating one have the same projection, the same circle. Even in real life, if we look at a sphere with a uniform surface without any marks on it (e.g., a polished metal ball), it is hard to determine if it stands still or rotates. Our eyes need some hints, some details that are moving along the surface of the sphere according to its geometry. The more such details move the way you expect from points on the spherical surface to move, the clearer is the perception (well, illusion) of the rotating sphere.

And here is the key to the problem in making a CSS scene that would give such perception: to make this illusion strong enough, we need many marks moving along the paths that lie in different planes. And the only way to get this in CSS is to have each mark as a separate CSS box (element or pseudo-element). If our sphere consists only of moving marks, we really need many of them to see it as a sphere — thus "hundreds of elements" in most demos you have seen.

So if you want to make a sphere look realistic with a reasonably small number of elements, you would probably need to combine the effects that make an "illusion" of a static basic spherical shape (a circle with radial gradients, inner shadows etc.) with some elements that are relatively small (to make it less obvious that they are actually flat), oriented along the surface of the sphere with 3D transforms, and animated — basically the same way as the faces of the cube in your first demo.

Below is my own attempt to put this approach into practice. I used 20 circular elements oriented roughly as the faces of the regular icosahedron (like white hexagons on the classic soccer ball). I grouped them into two groups each making one hemisphere for convenience (it was not necessary, but it made styling a bit simpler). The whole 3D scene consists of the sphere itself and the background frame (pseudo element) which crosses the sphere near its centre (a bit closer, to reduce "flickering" of the circles as they go from the near side to the far side and back) and always faces to the screen. So 24 elements in total (not literally "hundreds", at least:). To make the circles look more "bulging" (like spherical segments), I added two pseudo elements to each of them and elevated them slightly one above other. Works best in Chrome and Firefox 57+ (in Firefox 56- and iOS Safari there is still some "flickering" near the edges). If you hover the circle, you can see the scene without the background frame (and also without "flickering"). A slightly modified version is also available on Codepen. 

.scene {
  perspective: 400vmin;
  transform-style: preserve-3d;
  position: absolute;
  width: 80vmin;
  height: 80vmin;
  top: 10vmin;
  left: 10vmin;
}

.sphere {
  transform-style: preserve-3d;
  position: absolute;
  animation: rotate 20s infinite linear;
  width: 100%;
  height: 100%;
  transform-origin: 50% 50%;
  top: 0;
  left: 0;
}

.scene::before {
  content: '';
  position: absolute;
  width: 100%;
  height: 100%;
  top: 0%;
  left: 0%;
  background: radial-gradient(circle farthest-corner at 33% 33%, rgba(240, 240, 220, 0.85) 0%, rgba(30, 30, 40, 0.85) 80%), radial-gradient(circle farthest-corner at 45% 45%, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 50%, #000000 80%);
  border-radius: 50%;
  transform: translateZ(2vmin);
}

.scene:hover::before {
  display: none;
}

.hemisphere {
  position: absolute;
  top: 0;
  left: 0;
  width: 100%;
  height: 100%;
  transform-style: preserve-3d;
  transform-origin: 50% 50%;
  transform: rotateX(90deg);
}

.hemisphere:nth-child(2) {
  transform: rotateX(-90deg);
}

.face {
  position: absolute;
  width: 40vmin;
  height: 40vmin;
  background: radial-gradient(circle at 50% 50%, rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.1), rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.1) 48%, #ff0000 49%, #ff0000 50%, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0) 51%);
  transform-style: preserve-3d;
  transform-origin: 50% 0;
  top: 50%;
  left: 20vmin;
}

.face::before, .face::after {
  content: '';
  position: absolute;
  border-radius: 50%;
  box-sizing: border-box;
}

.face::before {
  width: 50%;
  height: 50%;
  top: 25%;
  left: 25%;
  border: 2px solid #333;
  background: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.3);
  transform: translateZ(1.6vmin);
}

.face::after {
  width: 20%;
  height: 20%;
  top: 40%;
  left: 40%;
  background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2);
  transform: translateZ(2.8vmin);
}

.face:nth-child(1) {
  transform: translateZ(-41.6vmin) rotateZ(36deg) translateY(-6.8vmin) rotateX(143deg);
}

.face:nth-child(2) {
  transform: translateZ(-41.6vmin) rotateZ(108deg) translateY(-6.8vmin) rotateX(143deg);
}

.face:nth-child(3) {
  transform: translateZ(-41.6vmin) rotateZ(180deg) translateY(-6.8vmin) rotateX(143deg);
}

.face:nth-child(4) {
  transform: translateZ(-41.6vmin) rotateZ(252deg) translateY(-6.8vmin) rotateX(143deg);
}

.face:nth-child(5) {
  transform: translateZ(-41.6vmin) rotateZ(-36deg) translateY(-6.8vmin) rotateX(143deg);
}

.face:nth-child(6) {
  transform: translateZ(-26.8vmin) rotateZ(36deg) translateY(-33.2vmin) rotateX(100deg);
}

.face:nth-child(7) {
  transform: translateZ(-26.8vmin) rotateZ(108deg) translateY(-33.2vmin) rotateX(100deg);
}

.face:nth-child(8) {
  transform: translateZ(-26.8vmin) rotateZ(180deg) translateY(-33.2vmin) rotateX(100deg);
}

.face:nth-child(9) {
  transform: translateZ(-26.8vmin) rotateZ(252deg) translateY(-33.2vmin) rotateX(100deg);
}

.face:nth-child(10) {
  transform: translateZ(-26.8vmin) rotateZ(-36deg) translateY(-33.2vmin) rotateX(100deg);
}

.face:nth-child(11) {
  transform: translateZ(-26.8vmin) rotateZ(36deg) translateY(-33.2vmin) rotateX(100deg);
}

@keyframes rotate {
  0% {
transform: rotateZ(25deg) rotateX(20deg) rotateY(0deg);
  }
  50% {
transform: rotateZ(-25deg) rotateX(-20deg) rotateY(180deg);
  }
  100% {
transform: rotateZ(25deg) rotateX(20deg) rotateY(360deg);
  }
}

body {
  background: #555;
  overflow: hidden;
}
<div class="scene">
  <div class="sphere">
    <div class="hemisphere">
      <div class="face"></div>
      <div class="face"></div>
      <div class="face"></div>
      <div class="face"></div>
      <div class="face"></div>
      <div class="face"></div>
      <div class="face"></div>
      <div class="face"></div>
      <div class="face"></div>
      <div class="face"></div>
    </div>
    <div class="hemisphere">
      <div class="face"></div>
      <div class="face"></div>
      <div class="face"></div>
      <div class="face"></div>
      <div class="face"></div>
      <div class="face"></div>
      <div class="face"></div>
      <div class="face"></div>
      <div class="face"></div>
      <div class="face"></div>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>

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