Shape master Temani Afif has what might be the largest collection of CSS shapes on the planet with all the tools to generate them on the fly. There’s a mix of clever techniques he’s typically used to make those shapes, many of which he’s covered here at CSS-Tricks over the years.
Some of the more complex shapes were commonly clipped with the path() function. That makes a lot of sense because it literally accepts SVG path coordinates that you can draw in an app like Figma and export.
But Temani has gone all-in on the newly-released shape() function which recently rolled out in both Chromium browsers and Safari. That includes a brand-new generator that converts path() shapes in shape() commands instead.
So, if we had a shape that was originally created with an SVG path, like this:
.shape {
clip-path: path(
M199.6,18.9
c-4.3-8.9-12.5-16.4-22.3-17.8
c-11.9-1.7-23.1,5.4-32.2,13.2
c-9.1,7.8-17.8,16.8-29.3,20.3
c-20.5,6.2-41.7-7.4-63.1-7.5
c38.7,27,24.8,33,15.2,43.3
c-35.5,38.2-0.1,99.4,40.6,116.2
c32.8,13.6,72.1,5.9,100.9-15
c27.4-19.9,44.3-54.9,47.4-88.6
c0.2-2.7,0.4-5.3,0.5-7.9
c204.8,38,203.9,27.8,199.6,18.9
z
);
}…the generator will spit this out:
.shape {
clip-path: shape(
from 97.54% 10.91%,
curve by -10.93% -10.76% with -2.11% -5.38%/-6.13% -9.91%,
curve by -15.78% 7.98% with -5.83% -1.03%/-11.32% 3.26%,
curve by -14.36% 12.27% with -4.46% 4.71%/-8.72% 10.15%,
curve by -30.93% -4.53% with -10.05% 3.75%/-20.44% -4.47%,
curve to 7.15% 25.66% with 18.67% 15.81%/11.86% 19.43%,
curve by 19.9% 70.23% with -17.4% 23.09%/-0.05% 60.08%,
curve by 49.46% -9.07% with 16.08% 8.22%/35.34% 3.57%,
curve by 23.23% -53.55% with 13.43% -12.03%/21.71% -33.18%,
curve by 0.25% -4.77% with 0.1% -1.63%/0.2% -3.2%,
curve to 97.54% 10.91% with 100.09% 22.46%/99.64% 16.29%,
close
);
}Pretty cool!
Honestly, I’m not sure how often I’ll need to convert path() to shape(). Seems like a stopgap sorta thing where the need for it dwindles over time as shape() is used more often — and it’s not like the existing path() function is broken or deprecated… it’s just different. But still, I’m using the generator a LOT as I try to wrap my head around shape() commands. Seeing the commands in context is invaluable which makes it an excellent learning tool.
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