Creating this rotating animation using CSS

Question

This is the animation I'd like to make using CSS.

It is an animated PNG. Firefox is the only browser I know that will show the animation. Please view this in FireFox so you can see the animation. I'd like to try and make it in CSS so I can use it in more browsers and still get true transparency (which animated gifs can't provide)

<-- Here is a single one of the dots, which could be used to make the animation without having to create the dot's shading in css.

This fiddle http://jsfiddle.net/jvrvK/ shows what I've got so far. I sorta have the look of the spheres, but the animation doesn't seem to work in Chrome and I don't understand CSS animations enough to create the same type of rotation in the PNG.

Thanks very much for any help!

Fiddle code below:

<ul class="busy">
    <li class="busy-dot1"><b class="busy-dot-shine"></b></li>
    <li class="busy-dot2"><b class="busy-dot-shine"></b></li>
    <li class="busy-dot3"><b class="busy-dot-shine"></b></li>
    <li class="busy-dot4"><b class="busy-dot-shine"></b></li>
    <li class="busy-dot5"><b class="busy-dot-shine"></b></li>
</ul>

.busy {
    list-style: none;
    padding: 0;
    position: relative;
    transform-style: preserve-3d;
    animation: rot 4s linear infinite;
    width:100px;
}

.busy-dot1, .busy-dot2, .busy-dot3, .busy-dot4, .busy-dot5 {
    border-radius: 50%;
    display: inline-block;
    transform-style: preserve-3d;
    margin: 0 4px;
}

.busy-dot-shine {
    display: block;
    border-radius: 50%;
    background: radial-gradient(circle at 25% 25%, #FFF, rgba(255,255,255,0));
    background-color: #193987;
    animation: rotr 4s linear infinite;
    height: 20px;
    width: 20px;
}

Answer 1

Chrome can be fussy about prefixes, add PrefixFree library to your code. You could add the prefixes yourself, but I find PreFix Free much easier.

//cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/prefixfree/1.0.7/prefixfree.min.js

http://jsfiddle.net/adrianjmartin/jvrvK/2/

Another way would be to use SVG: http://jsfiddle.net/adrianjmartin/AcvE5/3/

Answer 2

HTML:

<div id="all">
  <div id="box">
    <div id="circle"></div>
  </div>
  <div id="box" class="box2">
    <div id="circle" class="circle2"></div>
  </div>
  <div id="box" class="box3">
    <div id="circle" class="circle3"></div>
  </div>
  <div id="box" class="box4">
    <div id="circle" class="circle4"></div>
  </div>
  <div id="box" class="box5">
    <div id="circle" class="circle5"></div>
  </div>
</div>

CSS:

#box {
    position: absolute;
    width: 50px;
    height: 50px;
}
.box2 {
    -webkit-transform: rotate(35deg);
}
.box3 {
    -webkit-transform: rotate(70deg);
}
.box4 {
    -webkit-transform: rotate(105deg);
}
.box5 {
    -webkit-transform: rotate(140deg);
}
.circle2 {
    -webkit-transform: scale(.8);
}
.circle3 {
    -webkit-transform: scale(.6);
}
.circle4 {
    -webkit-transform: scale(.4);
}
.circle5 {
    -webkit-transform: scale(.2);
}
#circle {
    position: relative;
    top: 0px;
    left: 50px;
    border-radius: 50%;
    background: radial-gradient(circle at 25% 25%, #FFF, rgba(255, 255, 255, 0));
    background-color: #193987;
    animation: rotr 4s linear infinite;
    height: 20px;
    width: 20px;
}
#all {
    position: relative;
    top: 50px;
    left: 50px;
    width: 50px;
    height: 50px;

    animation: myfirst;
    animation-duration: 05s;
    animation-timing-function: linear;
    animation-iteration-count: infinite;

    -webkit-animation-name: myfirst;
    -webkit-animation-duration: 05s;
    -webkit-animation-timing-function: linear;
    -webkit-animation-iteration-count: infinite;
}
 @keyframes myfirst {
0% { transform: rotate(360deg);}
}
 @-webkit-keyframes myfirst {
0% { -webkit-transform: rotate(360deg);}
}

Live demo

Answer 3

This would be an aproximate solution

demo

The HTML is the same that you had; the CSS is

.busy {
    list-style: none;
    padding: 0;
    position: relative;
    width:100px;
}

.busy-dot1, .busy-dot2, .busy-dot3, .busy-dot4, .busy-dot5 {
    border-radius: 50%;
    display: inline-block;
    position: absolute;
    left: 150px;
    top: 50px;
    -webkit-animation: rot 4s linear infinite;
    animation: rot 4s linear infinite;
}

.busy-dot2 {
    -webkit-animation-delay: -3.5s;
    animation-delay: -3.5s;
}
.busy-dot3 {
    -webkit-animation-delay: -3s;
    animation-delay: -3s;
}
.busy-dot4 {
    -webkit-animation-delay: -2.7s;
    animation-delay: -2.7s;
}

.busy-dot-shine {
    display: block;
    border-radius: 50%;
    background: radial-gradient(circle at 25% 25%, #FFF, rgba(255,255,255,0));
    background-color: #193987;
    height: 20px;
    width: 20px;
}
.busy-dot2 .busy-dot-shine {
    height: 15px;
    width: 15px;
}
.busy-dot3 .busy-dot-shine {
    height: 10px;
    width: 10px;
}
.busy-dot4 .busy-dot-shine {
    height: 6px;
    width: 6px;
}

@-webkit-keyframes rot {
    0% {-webkit-transform: scaleX(2) rotate(0deg) translateX(50px) scale(1) rotate(0deg) scaleX(0.5);   
        opacity: 0.5;}
   25% {-webkit-transform: scaleX(2) rotate(90deg) translateX(50px) scale(1.5) rotate(-90deg) scaleX(0.5);
        opacity: 0.8;}
   50% {-webkit-transform: scaleX(2) rotate(180deg) translateX(50px) scale(1) rotate(-180deg) scaleX(0.5);
        opacity: 0.5;}
   75% {-webkit-transform: scaleX(2) rotate(270deg) translateX(50px) scale(0.8) rotate(-270deg) scaleX(0.5);
   opacity: 0.2;}
  100% {-webkit-transform: scaleX(2) rotate(360deg) translateX(50px) scale(1) rotate(-360deg) scaleX(0.5);
  opacity: 0.5;}
}

@keyframes rot {
    0% {transform: scaleX(2) rotate(0deg) translateX(50px) scale(1) rotate(0deg) scaleX(0.5);   
        opacity: 0.5;}
   25% {transform: scaleX(2) rotate(90deg) translateX(50px) scale(1.5) rotate(-90deg) scaleX(0.5);
        opacity: 0.8;}
   50% {transform: scaleX(2) rotate(180deg) translateX(50px) scale(1) rotate(-180deg) scaleX(0.5);
        opacity: 0.5;}
   75% {transform: scaleX(2) rotate(270deg) translateX(50px) scale(0.8) rotate(-270deg) scaleX(0.5);
        opacity: 0.2;}
  100% {transform: scaleX(2) rotate(360deg) translateX(50px) scale(1) rotate(-360deg) scaleX(0.5);
        opacity: 0.5;}
}

The trick is to set a transform that scales in X 2 times (to generate an elipse when rotated), then rotates and translates to make a circle.

Then apply a scale to make the circles grow, and at last counter-rotate to make the sphere look right

Of course, all the values are aproximate, the GIF is too small to tell if that is accurate

Answer 4

HTML:

<ul class="busy">
    <li class="busy-dot1"><b class="busy-dot-shine"></b></li>
</ul>

CSS:

.busy {
    list-style: none;
    padding: 0;
    position: relative;
    transform-style: preserve-3d;
    animation: rot 4s linear infinite;
    width:700px;
}

.busy-dot1, .busy-dot2, .busy-dot3, .busy-dot4, .busy-dot5 {
    border-radius: 50%;
    display: inline-block;
    transform-style: preserve-3d;
    margin: 0 4px;
}

.busy-dot-shine {
    display: block;
    border-radius: 50%;
    background: radial-gradient(circle at 25% 25%, #FFF, rgba(255,255,255,0));
    background-color: #193987;
    animation: rotr 4s linear infinite;
    height: 60px;
    width: 60px;
}
.busy li
{
transform:rotate(7deg);
-ms-transform:rotate(7deg); /* IE 9 */
-webkit-transform:rotate(7deg); /* Safari and Chrome */
animation:rotate 5s linear infinite;
-webkit-animation:rotate 5s linear infinite; /* Safari and Chrome */
}

@keyframes rotate
{
from {transform:rotate(0deg);
-ms-transform:rotate(0deg); /* IE 9 */
-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg); /* Safari and Chrome */}
to {transform:rotate(-180deg);
-ms-transform:rotate(-180deg); /* IE 9 */
-webkit-transform:rotate(-180deg); /* Safari and Chrome */}
}

@-webkit-keyframes rotate /* Safari and Chrome */
{
from {transform:rotate(0deg);
-ms-transform:rotate(0deg); /* IE 9 */
-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg); /* Safari and Chrome */}
to {transform:rotate(-360deg);
-ms-transform:rotate(-360deg); /* IE 9 */
-webkit-transform:rotate(-360deg); /* Safari and Chrome */}
}

See in action: http://jsfiddle.net/Ld9pP/1/

You'll probably choose the other one but whatever