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Today you will learn, how you can create a Flash-like effect with only using a few lines of jQuery and a transparent PNG as mask.
Not only will you be able to dynamically change the color of the logo, but also add patterns as you wish and even animate them later with a few lines of code. With this technique you will also be able to add transition effects and control any single part of the colors, patterns and animations.
You can take a look to the finished Demonstration by clicking here. As you see, you will be able to adjust every single bit of the color, transparency, pattern and even the animation itself.
If you want to follow along, you can download the finished project files here (zip archive).
This technique generally does not require any jQuery at all – but we are using it, to make nice transitions and to be able to adjust the color, pattern and animation by a few sliders.
The Key-PNG for this Effect:
First you have to create a PNG-24 (24bit, so the alpha-channel gets saved too) similar to this one:
As you see, the transparency is not the outside of the logo. It is inside of it, where you want to change the color, apply the gradients, add patterns and animate them. The background should be exactly the same as in the container, in which the logo is going to be. You can either use a single color or whatever else you want to. Just take care if your background has a pattern so the transition is seamless to your main background-pattern.
The Pattern-PNG for the Animation Effect:
The next image we will need is the one with the gradient and/or pattern. The one I will use looks like this:
The dimensions of my pattern are 450 x 3000 pixel. The width should be exactly the same as the PNG-mask. The height does not matter. The higher, the better. Also make sure to remember the size. We will need it later in our script to adjust the animation.
Before we start creating our needed files, we first create our folder structure again. It should look something like this again:
Our index.html, which will be created at the root of this structure will need following wrappers around the PNG-mask:
<div id="wrapper"> <div id="color"></div> <div id="pattern"></div> <div id="logobox"></div> </div>
As you see here, we have 3 different wrappers for each element. The first one will contain only the color. The second one only the pattern. And the last one will only contain the PNG-mask, which also will be the topmost element.
Why three wrappers???
Maybe you ask yourself now, why we need 3 separate wrappers for each element, if we can do the same with only one. This is why: With 3 separate wrappers, we will be able to adjust different transparencies for every used element, without worrying about loosing opacity on the pattern or the logo itself.
For the sliders we will use the latest jQuery UI again – so you don’t have to worry too much about the structure there. Just make sure they have all the same class and different ID’s.
My Slider structure looks like this:
<!-- color sliders --> <div id="red" class="slider"></div> <div id="green" class="slider"></div> <div id="blue" class="slider"></div> <div id="alpha1" class="slider"></div> <!-- pattern sliders --> <div id="alpha2" class="slider"></div> <div id="speed" class="slider"></div>
For the buttons I’m using ordinary a-tags – Just give them all the same class and different ID’s again, so you can style them and bind different functions to them. We will later escape the default link-behavior by returning “false” in the script.
Scripts and styles in the header:
<link rel="stylesheet" href="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jqueryui/1.7.2/themes/black-tie/jquery-ui.css" type="text/css" media="all" /> <link rel="stylesheet" href="css/style.css" type="text/css" media="all" /> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.4.0/jquery.min.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="js/jquery-ui-1.8rc3.custom.min.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="js/script.js"></script>
For saving bandwidth, we will link to the Google files again. Unfortunately the latest jQuery UI (version 1.8, release candidate 3) is not hosted there yet, so you have to host in on your own server. You can customize the download yourself here. You will only need the UI Core and the Slider Widget.
I cannot use the latest stable release (version 1.7.2) because there is a small “bug”, regarding the animation of the sliders, when changing the values programmatically. You can take a look at the bug-tracker ticket here. However, it is resolved in the latest release candidate, so I will not go further into the changes now.
Of course you can use the jQuery UI ThemeRoller to create your own slider-styles.
This time I will skip the CSS part completely because there is nothing special to take care of. The only thing you maybe want to add is classes for pattern-only settings and animation-only settings, so we can hide them later in our script by only using the class names as selector.
The first thing we have to do is to create document.ready function, so the scripts start, as soon as the DOM is loaded and before the page contents are loaded.
$(function(){
// put all your jQuery goodness in here.
});
Now we will setup a few variables at first:
// color container
var color = $("#color");
// pattern container
var pattern = $("#pattern");
// animation start/stop button
var startstop = $("#startstop");
// show/hide button
var showhide = $("#showhide");
// random-color button
var randomcolors = $("#randomcolors");
// default animation speed (5ms to 100ms)
var speed = 50;
// starting position of the pattern
var curPos = 0;
// reset-position
var resetPos = -(3000-117);
The last variable defines when our pattern hits the end, so we can start from the beginning again – it will be for the animation later. 3000 is the height of our pattern image and 117 is the height of our logo.
Don’t forget to put a minus in front of this value. The pattern will move up in its container with the CSS background-position animated.
Converting the slider-div’s to the jQuery UI sliders:
// setting up the jQuery UI sliders
$("#red, #green, #blue").slider({ animate:true, range:"min", max:255, slide:colorChanger, change:colorChanger });
$("#red").slider("value", 52);
$("#green").slider("value", 174);
$("#blue").slider("value", 203);
$("#alpha1").slider({ animate:true, range:"min", max:100, value:100, slide:alphaChanger1, change:alphaChanger1 });
$("#alpha2").slider({ animate:true, range:"min", max:100, value:100, slide:alphaChanger2, change:alphaChanger2 });
$("#speed").slider({ animate:true, range:"min", min:5, max:100, value:50, slide:speedChange, change:speedChange });
This is everything you need, to “install” the sliders and setup the starting-values and behaviors.
I will go true all options, so you know what you are doing here:
If you need more information about the options and events we are using, you can take a look at the documentation here.
Now everything is ready to create our main functions.
Converting RGB to HEX
// RGB to HEX converter (with 3 arguments)
function rgbToHex(r,g,b){
var hex = [
// converting strings to hex (16)
r.toString(16),
g.toString(16),
b.toString(16)
];
// get all 3 values of the array
$.each(hex, function(nr, val){
// make sure they are not empty
if (val.length == 1){
// add leading zero
hex[nr] = "0" + val;
}
});
// returns a valid hexadecimal number
return hex.join("").toUpperCase();
}
With this function, we will convert the values of the red, green and blue sliders to a valid hexadecimal for using it in CSS.
For making this work, we need to pass 3 variables to the function (r,g,b) and convert those strings to hex-code. We do so by using .toString(16).
We also wrapped them into an array, so we can go through them now by jQuery’s each() loop, passing the index of the array (nr) and the value (val) to the loop.
Last thing we need to to is to join those 3 values and converting them to uppercase.
Background-color Changer:
// changing the colors
function colorChanger(){
// value of the "red"-slider
var red = $("#red").slider("value");
// value of the "green"-slider
var green = $("#green").slider("value");
// value of the "blue"-slider
var blue = $("#blue").slider("value");
// converting values to hex
var hex = rgbToHex(red,green,blue);
// changing the background-color of the wrapper
color.css("background-color", "#" + hex);
}
This function will get all 3 values of our red-, green- and blue-sliders, convert the values to a valid hex-code using the previous function and change the css of our color-container.
That’s all! You should now be able to change the color of your logo. (You have to comment out the alpha and the speed sliders, or you will get a JavaScript error.)
Opacity Changer:
// change the opacity of the color-wrapper
function alphaChanger1(){
var opacity = $("#alpha1").slider("value") / 100;
color.css("opacity", opacity );
}
// change the opacity of the pattern-wrapper
function alphaChanger2(){
var opacity = $("#alpha2").slider("value") / 100;
pattern.css("opacity", opacity );
}
Those two functions will handle the opacity of the color-wrapper and the pattern-wrapper. Nothing special there. Just make sure to divide your value by 100, so you get a value between 0.00 and 1.00. This step is important because the opacity attribute does not accept 3 digits as value. So a 50% opacity will be 0.50.
You can also combine those two functions by passing the correct container returning the right value. I skipped this step. It’s quick and dirty – but it works! :)
Function for the Animation:
// pattern animation
function patternScroller(){
// substracting 1 with every call
curPos--;
// if it hits our reset-position, back to 0
if (curPos == resetPos){ curPos = 0; }
pattern.css("background-position", "0 " + curPos + "px");
}
Every time this function gets called, we will subtract 1 from our current position variable (curPos). If it hits the value of our reset position (resetPos), we will set it back to 0. The last step there is to change the vertical position of the background from our pattern-container.
Speed Changer:
// animation speed changer
function speedChange(){
// get the current value of the speed-slider
speed = $("#speed").slider("value");
// clear interval, if there is any
clearInterval(initScroll);
// set a new interval with the current speed
initScroll = setInterval(patternScroller, speed);
}
This function will change the speed of our animation. First we need to get the current value of our speed-slider. After this we have to clear any previous interval (if there is any). Last but not least we are creating a new interval. This will call our previous function (patternScroller) every x milliseconds. The x stands for the value of our speed slider.
Random Color and Alpha function:
// random color function
function randomColors(){
$("#red").slider("value", Math.floor(Math.random()*256), true);
$("#green").slider("value", Math.floor(Math.random()*256), true);
$("#blue").slider("value", Math.floor(Math.random()*256), true);
$("#alpha1").slider("value", Math.floor(Math.random()*101), true);
}
This function will change the values of the red, green, blue and alpha1 sliders randomly when called. It does so by using JavaScripts Math.random() function. To make sure the returned value is not 0, just add 1 to the maximum value. To make it a Integer we wrapped returned value into Math.floor(), so it gets rounded downwards to the nearest integer.
This function is now ready to be bound to button:
// random colors button
randomcolors.click(function(){
// if button has no "random" class
if (!$(this).hasClass("random")){
// add it
$(this).addClass("random");
// change the button text
$(this).text("random-colors & alpha: ON");
// call the random function once
randomColors();
// set a intervall with the random function
randomizer = setInterval(randomColors, 2000);
} else {
// remove the class
$(this).removeClass("random");
// change the button text
$(this).text("random-colors & alpha: OFF");
// clear the interval
clearInterval(randomizer);
}
// change the default link-behavior
return false;
});
We will check if the random-function is already running by adding and removing a class (“random”) to the button.
The important parts of this whole function is setting/clearing the interval. The interval will get called every 2 seconds (2000 milliseconds) and the first call is after 2 seconds, so we are manually calling it the first time. By returning false, we make sure the override the default behavior of a link.
Show and Hide the Pattern container:
// show and hide the pattern
showhide.click(function(){
// if button has no "visible" class
if (!pattern.hasClass("visible")){
// add it
pattern.addClass("visible");
// change the text
$(this).text("hide pattern");
// fade in the pattern-container
pattern.stop().fadeTo(1000, 1);
// fade in all elements with the class "forpattern"
$(".forpattern").stop().fadeTo(800, 1);
} else {
// remove the class
pattern.removeClass("visible");
// change the button text
$(this).text("show pattern");
// fade out the pattern-container
pattern.stop().fadeTo(800, 0);
// fade out all elements with the class "forpattern"
$(".forpattern").stop().fadeTo(800, 0);
}
// change the default link-behavior
return false;
});
Again we are checking if the pattern is hidden or not by adding and removing a class to the button (“visible”). Nothing complicated in here – by now, everything should be clear. Just to make sure: The second fade-effect is used to show/hide all elements which have the class “forpattern”.
Start and Stop the Animation:
// start and stop the animation
startstop.click(function(){
// if button has no "scrolling" class
if (!pattern.hasClass("scrolling")){
// add it
pattern.addClass("scrolling");
// change the text
$(this).text("stop animation");
// start a new intervall with current speed-slider value
initScroll = setInterval(patternScroller, speed);
// fade in all elements with the "foranimation" class
$(".foranimation").stop().fadeTo(800, 1);
} else {
// remove the class
pattern.removeClass("scrolling");
// change the button text
$(this).text("start animation");
// clear the interval again
clearInterval(initScroll);
// fade out all elements with the "foranimation" class
$(".foranimation").stop().fadeTo(800, 0);
}
// change the default link-behavior
return false;
});
This is the last button-function we need for this project.
It will start and stop the animation of our pattern. To distinguish if the animation is already started or not, we are again adding and removing a class (“scrolling”). If the button does not have this class yet we are adding it, initiate an interval with the current value of our “speed” variable. If it has this class, we remove it and clear this interval again. For a little bit eye candy we are again fading all elements with the class “foranimation” in and out.
You should now have a Flash-like color and pattern morphing logo, using only a transparent PNG as mask and a few jQuery functions. You can take a look at the demo by clicking here or download all files by clicking here.
If you have any questions or need help with any of the steps, feel free to ask them in the comments!
Happy coding!
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Daniel Kurdoghlian is a freelance web designer, web developer and graphics artist living and working in Vienna (Austria). He is also founder of PushingPixels.at, a new media company specialized in web design, print design and photography. If you want to get in contact with him, you can visit his vCard or just drop him a line through Twitter.
Tuesday, December 13th, 2011 12:45
Good to find an exrpet who knows what he’s talking about!
Tuesday, July 12th, 2011 14:09
Great tutorial, thanks for sharing,
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010 23:04
Helpful info!
Is it possible to move things around in my online store or are they stuck in the order I entered them – like blog posts? (I would like to be able to rearrange the items I currently have entered.)
Thanks!
Thursday, March 25th, 2010 18:46
Nice job! This is a really good tutorial. Keep up the good work Daniel!
Thursday, March 25th, 2010 20:49
Thank you very much for your feedback Andrew!
Sunday, March 28th, 2010 21:43
Thank you very much for your feedback Vinicius! Much appreciated!
Thursday, March 25th, 2010 17:32
Very well done. Looks like flash will become a thing of the past with things like this.
Sunday, March 28th, 2010 21:42
Thank you for your feedback Jared!
Trying to spread the message as far as possible, so people stop using flash for simple effects like this one.
Thursday, March 25th, 2010 17:01
This could be more PRO if this would be like “object” :). Nice effect
Sunday, March 28th, 2010 21:39
Of course a lot of the functions I used are not the best solution – but because this will be rarely used on real-world needs, I wanted to keep it as easy as possible :)
(Also because all the buttons and sliders are only for the demonstration.)
Thursday, March 25th, 2010 03:23
what if we want to set the slider effect automatic and hide the slider bars and it produces random colors. I was thinking of using this for my wordpress template header logo.. maybe take the slider effect and add to the template options.
Q
Thursday, March 25th, 2010 18:17
Of course it’s no problem to do all this without sliders or buttons.
I just used them so you have an interface to change the color.
To get you started take a look at jQuery UI’s Color Animation Effect here: http://jqueryui.com/demos/animate/
Also it’s no problem to add this to the back-end of your WordPress Theme.
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010 01:07
I guess I’m just not skilled enough. I can’t figure out how to remove the sliders yet keep the animation. Great tutorial anyway, thanks!!
Thursday, March 25th, 2010 16:21
I want to do the same thing..
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 21:12
I’m a bit confused. How can we use this when there are sliders in the way? For instance, if I want to make the logo on JeremyBuff.com like this, how could I set the variables up so that it automatically animates? I don’t understand how to keep the variables how I want them without the sliders displayed on the page. Awesome effect, though!
Thursday, March 25th, 2010 18:14
Hi Jeremy,
the sliders and the random function I built are only for being able to switch the colors.
If you want to create your own animation without buttons or sliders, I would recommend you to take a look at jQuery UI’s Color-Animation Effect to start with it here: http://jqueryui.com/demos/animate/
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 16:46
From Portugal I said: Excellent job and Excellent creativity
Thursday, March 25th, 2010 18:14
Thank you very much for your feedback Jenna! :)
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 14:52
Excellent tutorial. Nice job Daniel. GoodBye Flash :)
Thursday, March 25th, 2010 18:09
Thank you!
I wouldn’t say “good by Flash”.. but a lot of Flash can be replaced with JavaScript nowadays :)
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 14:21
Cool effect :) We are just scratching the surface with this stuff! Exciting times
Nice job
Thursday, March 25th, 2010 18:08
Great you liked it too! :)
Stay tuned for more exciting jQuery stuff ;)
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 18:05
Hi Daniel,
This is Pretty Good Tutorial & well Explained :)
Thursday, March 25th, 2010 18:10
Much appreciated!
Let us know if you are finished with your project where you are going to use it!
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 13:49
Thanks for your feedback – great you liked it!
You’re welcome!
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 02:31
Well explained tutorial Daniel. I must try this soon :D
I really love the patterns and animations effect shown at the demo page.
Lots of ideas can be developed from this point don’t you think?
Dankschen :)
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 13:41
Great you liked it Audee! Means a lot to me :)
Again this is only an idea.. there are a lot of possibilities with this effect/technique – I agree!
Gern geschehen! :D
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010 23:27
This is awesome. I use JQuery since I begin to use javascript and it is really awesome. Easy, lot of plugins …
Those little tips can be very usefull
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 01:15
Great you liked it Beth – You can expect some more jQuery “Flash-replacement” techniques in future from me – exclusive for 1stWebDesigner :)
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 03:39
This is wonderful. I was always thinking about replacing flash with javascript so It is very cool to me.
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 13:43
Thank you Hwansoo!
Stay tuned for more Flash-replacement techniques in the future! :)
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010 23:53
very good and useful tutorial! thank you!
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emano
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010 23:53
very good and useful tutorial! thank you!
Daniel Kurdoghlian
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 01:13
I’m glad you liked it – You’re very welcome!
Smashing Share
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 14:52
Excellent tutorial. Nice job Daniel. GoodBye Flash :)
Daniel Kurdoghlian
Thursday, March 25th, 2010 18:09
Thank you!
I wouldn’t say “good by Flash”.. but a lot of Flash can be replaced with JavaScript nowadays :)
Andy Sowards
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 14:21
Cool effect :) We are just scratching the surface with this stuff! Exciting times
Nice job
Daniel Kurdoghlian
Thursday, March 25th, 2010 18:08
Great you liked it too! :)
Stay tuned for more exciting jQuery stuff ;)
Avinash
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 18:05
Hi Daniel,
This is Pretty Good Tutorial & well Explained :)
Daniel Kurdoghlian
Thursday, March 25th, 2010 18:11
Thank you Avinash!
Great you liked it! :)
Jenna Molby
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 22:11
Great tutorial Daniel!
Daniel Kurdoghlian
Thursday, March 25th, 2010 18:14
Thank you very much for your feedback Jenna! :)
Ricardo Pestana
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 16:46
From Portugal I said: Excellent job and Excellent creativity
Daniel Kurdoghlian
Thursday, March 25th, 2010 18:10
Thanks very much for your feedback Ricardo!
shpyo
Thursday, March 25th, 2010 17:01
This could be more PRO if this would be like “object” :). Nice effect
Daniel Kurdoghlian
Sunday, March 28th, 2010 21:39
Of course a lot of the functions I used are not the best solution – but because this will be rarely used on real-world needs, I wanted to keep it as easy as possible :)
(Also because all the buttons and sliders are only for the demonstration.)
Quaker
Thursday, March 25th, 2010 03:23
what if we want to set the slider effect automatic and hide the slider bars and it produces random colors. I was thinking of using this for my wordpress template header logo.. maybe take the slider effect and add to the template options.
Q
Daniel Kurdoghlian
Thursday, March 25th, 2010 18:17
Of course it’s no problem to do all this without sliders or buttons.
I just used them so you have an interface to change the color.
To get you started take a look at jQuery UI’s Color Animation Effect here: http://jqueryui.com/demos/animate/
Also it’s no problem to add this to the back-end of your WordPress Theme.
Jeremy Buff
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010 01:07
I guess I’m just not skilled enough. I can’t figure out how to remove the sliders yet keep the animation. Great tutorial anyway, thanks!!
Jeremy Buff
Thursday, March 25th, 2010 16:21
I want to do the same thing..
Jeremy Buff
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 21:12
I’m a bit confused. How can we use this when there are sliders in the way? For instance, if I want to make the logo on JeremyBuff.com like this, how could I set the variables up so that it automatically animates? I don’t understand how to keep the variables how I want them without the sliders displayed on the page. Awesome effect, though!
Daniel Kurdoghlian
Thursday, March 25th, 2010 18:14
Hi Jeremy,
the sliders and the random function I built are only for being able to switch the colors.
If you want to create your own animation without buttons or sliders, I would recommend you to take a look at jQuery UI’s Color-Animation Effect to start with it here: http://jqueryui.com/demos/animate/
Jordan Walker
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 15:59
Great tutorial, I look forward to using this.
Daniel Kurdoghlian
Thursday, March 25th, 2010 18:10
Much appreciated!
Let us know if you are finished with your project where you are going to use it!
TechyMinds
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 09:39
Animation effect is great. very useful. thanks
Daniel Kurdoghlian
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 13:49
Thanks for your feedback – great you liked it!
You’re welcome!
Hwansoo Kim
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 03:39
This is wonderful. I was always thinking about replacing flash with javascript so It is very cool to me.
Daniel Kurdoghlian
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 13:43
Thank you Hwansoo!
Stay tuned for more Flash-replacement techniques in the future! :)
Beth McLain |
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010 23:27
This is awesome. I use JQuery since I begin to use javascript and it is really awesome. Easy, lot of plugins …
Those little tips can be very usefull
Daniel Kurdoghlian
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 01:15
Great you liked it Beth – You can expect some more jQuery “Flash-replacement” techniques in future from me – exclusive for 1stWebDesigner :)
A u d e e
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 02:31
Well explained tutorial Daniel. I must try this soon :D
I really love the patterns and animations effect shown at the demo page.
Lots of ideas can be developed from this point don’t you think?
Dankschen :)
Daniel Kurdoghlian
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 13:41
Great you liked it Audee! Means a lot to me :)
Again this is only an idea.. there are a lot of possibilities with this effect/technique – I agree!
Gern geschehen! :D
Jared
Thursday, March 25th, 2010 17:32
Very well done. Looks like flash will become a thing of the past with things like this.
Daniel Kurdoghlian
Sunday, March 28th, 2010 21:42
Thank you for your feedback Jared!
Trying to spread the message as far as possible, so people stop using flash for simple effects like this one.
Vinicius Almeida
Thursday, March 25th, 2010 17:45
Great jQuery and UI tutorial!
tks!
Daniel Kurdoghlian
Sunday, March 28th, 2010 21:43
Thank you very much for your feedback Vinicius! Much appreciated!
lirik
Wednesday, April 7th, 2010 20:42
nice.. thanks for sharing
Candid
Tuesday, December 13th, 2011 12:45
Good to find an exrpet who knows what he’s talking about!
Lirik Lagu
Tuesday, July 12th, 2011 14:09
Great tutorial, thanks for sharing,
Dan
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010 23:04
Helpful info!
Is it possible to move things around in my online store or are they stuck in the order I entered them – like blog posts? (I would like to be able to rearrange the items I currently have entered.)
Thanks!
Andrew Swanson
Thursday, March 25th, 2010 18:46
Nice job! This is a really good tutorial. Keep up the good work Daniel!
Daniel Kurdoghlian
Thursday, March 25th, 2010 20:49
Thank you very much for your feedback Andrew!