Programming with Shahan

Posted on Oct 30, 2021 • Updated on Nov 4, 2021

Flying Helicopter with CSS Animation (step-by-step guide)

#webdev #html #css #tutorial

Hey👨‍💻, welcome back.

In this article we gonna build a beautiful animation project using only HTML & CSS. This project is part of my "The Complete CSS3 Animations Course", and I assume that you are an intermediate-level CSS developer to build this project.

⛳ CSS3 Animation Properties That I used In this Project:

CSS Transformations
3D Transformations
CSS Transitions
Animation
Custom Timing Function(keyframes)

So, are you excited to build this project? I'm too. Let's Begin 🏒

Note: In case you want to code along with me, I added full tutorial video at the bottom of this article. This helicopter shape was inspired by @frontendjoe

🏗 Defining Helicopter Structure Using HTML

Let's define a container in the main element called “helicopter” and inside this container write 4 div elements with class in order:

cockpit
tail
main
rotor

Inside this “rotor” class you have to add a div with class “rotator” along with two empty div inside this “rotator” class.

<html>
 <head>
 </head>
 <body>
  <main class="helicopter">
     <div class="cockpit"></div>
     <div class="tail"></div>
     <div class="main"></div>
     <div class="rotor">
       <div class="rotator">
         <div></div>
         <div></div>
       </div>
     </div>
     <main>
 </body>
</html>

🚁Helicopter Design

In this section, we will design our HTML structure to turn into a helicopter shape.

`Body`

body {
  /* put elements into center */
    width: 100%;
    height: 100vh;
    display: flex;
    align-items: center;
    justify-content: center;
}

`.cockpit class`

.cockpit {
    position: absolute;
    overflow: hidden;
    z-index: 1;
    width: 195px;
    height: 195px;
    border-radius: 100px 40px 50px 50px;
    background-color: #44d2fd;
}

Output:

Then we have to add glass to this cockpit class. So let's define glass shapes on .cockpit :before and :after:

.cockpit::before {
    content: "";
    position: absolute;
    z-index: 1;
    top: -10px;
    left: -25px;
    width: 170px;
    height: 170px;
    border-radius: 40px;
    background-color: #302e37;
}
.cockpit::after {
    content: "";
    position: absolute;
    z-index: 1;
    top: -60px;
    left: -60px;
    width: 170px;
    height: 170px;
    border-radius: 40px;
    background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.05);
}

Output:

`.tail class`

Now, we have to apply styles to .tail class:

.tail {
    position: absolute;
    top: 50px;
    left: 150px;
    transform-origin: left center;
    border-top: 10px solid transparent;
    border-bottom: 80px solid transparent;
    border-left: 350px solid #2fadd2;
    border-bottom-right-radius: 10px;
    height: 10px;
}

Output:

`.main class`

This class will be the helicopter rotator body:

.main {
    position: absolute;
    left: 130px;
    top: -10px;
    width: 40px;
    height: 20px;
    background: #302e37;
}

Output:

.`rotor class`

.rotor {
    width: 700px;
    height: 700px;
    border-radius: 350px;
    position: absolute;
    top: -360px;
    left: -200px;
    z-index: 2;
    overflow: hidden;
    background-color: #a299ab;
    opacity: 0.12;
    transform: scaleY(0.075);
}

Output:

After styling the main rotor, we have to target the two empty div inside this rotor to make this rotor realistic. You will see beautiful animation when we will apply rotate animation in the next lesson.

.rotator div {
    position: absolute;
    top: 50%;
    left: 50%;
    margin-left: -350px;
    margin-top: -30px;
    width: 700px;
    height: 80px;
    background-color: #fff;
}

.rotator div:nth-child(1){
    transform: rotate(0deg);
}

.rotor div:nth-child(2) {
    transform: rotate(90deg);
}

Output:

🛫Flying Capability

Up until now, we created our helicopter shape and design. But without animations and keyframes, there will be no animation. So, Let's give it flying power using CSS animation property.

⏱Defining @Keyframes

Before using the animation property, we need to create keyframes. For this project, we will create two @keyframs called:

bounce
rotate

`bounce`

@keyframes bounce {
    0%,100%{
        transform: translate(0px, -50px) rotate(-15deg);
    }
    50% {
        transform: translate(0px, 50px) rotate(-10deg);
    }
}

`rotate`


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

📁Using Animation Property

So far, we defined two @keyframes for our helicopter project. Now, add them in our .helicopter & .rotator class.

`.helicopter class`

.helicopter {
    animation: bounce 5s infinite; /* adding bounce keyframes with duration 5s and infinite loop */
}

`.rotator class`

.rotator {
    position: absolute;
    width: 700px;
    height: 700px;
    border-radius: 350px;
    animation: rotate 0.6s linear infinite; /* added rotate @keyframs */
}

Output:

🎬Full Tutorial

You can code along to build this project from scratch by following this video.

👏Conclusion

So, we learned how to create complex shapes and animation using only CSS. You even don't have to touch JavaScript. Hope you enjoy this project. You can subscribe to my YT channel if you are interested in Front-end dev.

Let me know what do you think after completing this project. Feel free to leave a comment below✍

☕_Buy me a coffee:
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/codewithshahan

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Happy Coding!