Today we will explore how to create an engaging animation using simple CSS and an animation library, like GSAP, to achieve a 3D effect through basic optical illusions. While many of these animations can be crafted using plain CSS, I prefer utilizing JavaScript (GSAP) for its efficiency, allowing me to produce the desired effects swiftly with just a few lines of code.
Have you ever encountered animations that captivate with their smoothness and resemble abstract art or the beauty of movement? Such animations grab attention while scrolling or surfing the web.
In this brief tutorial, we’ll cover how to construct basic HTML with Tailwind CSS to quickly set up our project and then animate elements using GSAP.
We’ll divide this example into three sections: first, the foundational markup; second, the animation itself; and third, the rotation effect that creates the illusion of 3D perception.
The perspective from which we view a two-dimensional object significantly influences this effect. Moving forward, I plan to showcase more examples using this technique, incorporating rotations, perspective, and translations along an axis.
To start, for our base markup, I will use Tailwind CSS to swiflty combine HTML and styling in one cohesive setup:
