CSS perspective-origin

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The CSS perspective-origin property is used to determine the vanishing point for a 3D effect. It defines which position the user is looking at the 3D object.

Use this property on an element's parent element in order to see the effect on the child element.

The perspective-origin property is used in conjunction with the perspective property, which adjusts the intensity of the 3D effect.

Syntax

Possible Values

The perspective-origin property accepts a valid position value. This can consist of one to four values specifying the x and y coordinates.

Explanation of values:

x-position

The following values are allowed for the x-position:

<percentage>: Specifies the position relative to the width of the element. The value may be negative.
<length>: Specifies the position using a length value. The value may be negative.
left: Specifies the position as being at the left. This is the same as the 0 length value.
right: Specifies the position as being at the right. This is the same as the 100% percentage value.
center: Specifies the position as being at the center. This is the same as the 50% percentage value.

y-position

The following values are allowed for the y-position:

<percentage>: Specifies the position relative to the height of the element. The value may be negative.
<length>: Specifies the position using a length value. The value may be negative.
top: Specifies the position as being at the top. This is the same as the 0 length value.
bottom: Specifies the position as being at the bottom. This is the same as the 100% percentage value.
center: Specifies the position as being at the center. This is the same as the 50% percentage value.

In addition, all CSS properties also accept the following CSS-wide keyword values as the sole component of their property value:

initial: Represents the value specified as the property's initial value.
inherit: Represents the computed value of the property on the element's parent.
unset: This value acts as either inherit or initial, depending on whether the property is inherited or not. In other words, it sets all properties to their parent value if they are inheritable or to their initial value if not inheritable.

Basic Property Information

Initial Value

50% 50%

Applies To

This property applies only to transformable elements.

In HTML, a transformable element is either:

a block-level or atomic inline-level element
or whose CSS display property computes to table-row, table-row-group, table-header-group, table-footer-group, table-cell, or table-caption

In SVG, a transformable element is an element which has the attributes transform, patternTransform or gradientTransform.

Inherited?

Media

Visual

Computed Value

For <length> the absolute value, otherwise a percentage.

Animatable

Yes (see example)

Example Code

Basic CSS

Working Example within an HTML Document

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CSS Specifications

The perspective-origin property is defined in CSS Transforms Module Level 2.

Browser Support

Browser support for CSS properties can vary, particularly for newer or experimental features. Check current browser compatibility before using a property in production, especially when supporting older browsers.

The following table provided by Caniuse.com shows the level of browser support for this feature.

Initial Value

CSS properties have an initial value that applies when the property has not been explicitly set. The initial value is different from the value inherited from a parent element and may vary between properties.

Inheritance

Some CSS properties inherit their computed value from their parent element by default, while others do not. The inherit, initial, unset, and revert keywords can also be used to control how a property gets its value.

Vendor Prefixes

Most modern CSS properties use the standard, unprefixed syntax. Vendor-prefixed properties such as -webkit- are mainly relevant to older browser versions or specific features and should only be used when required by your browser support targets.