How to Create a Realistic Motion Blur with CSS Transitions

Creating realistic motion blur effects in CSS involves understanding the underlying principles of motion blur itself. This effect, often seen in photographs of fast-moving objects or shaky camera shots, is a result of the camera's shutter speed capturing movement over time.

Understanding Motion Blur

A camera's shutter opens, allowing light to expose the film (or sensor). If an object moves during this exposure, the resulting image shows the object's path as a blur. This blur is a composite of the object's position at various points during the shutter's open time. The object appears semi-transparent, with portions of the background visible through it.

Computers simulate this by creating multiple subframes of the object at slightly different positions along its path and blending them together with reduced opacity. The more subframes used, the more realistic the blur.

CSS Implementation

To achieve this in CSS, we utilize multiple, nearly identical elements, each with reduced opacity and a slightly delayed animation.

Let's start with a basic animation, for example, a black dot that moves on hover: (This section would contain the initial CSS code for the single dot animation).

To create the motion blur, we replicate this dot multiple times (e.g., 20 copies) using absolute positioning, overlapping them perfectly. Each copy has its opacity reduced (e.g., to 10%), and a small delay is added to its animation using transition-delay. This delay is incrementally increased for each subsequent copy, creating the illusion of motion blur. (This section would contain the CSS code for the multiple dot animation with delays).

The number of copies, opacity, and delay value need adjustment depending on the animation speed and desired blur intensity. While 20 copies often suffice, fewer may work for slower animations. Experimentation is key to achieving the optimal effect.

This technique effectively simulates motion blur for various animations—color changes, scaling, and complex timings—adding a professional touch to your CSS animations. While future browser advancements might offer native motion blur capabilities, this method provides a robust and readily available solution.

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