Slicebox – A fresh 3D image slider with graceful fallback

Slicebox is a jQuery 3D image slider plugin that makes use of CSS 3D Transforms and provides a graceful fallback for older browsers that don’t support the new properties.

With the CSS 3D Transforms we can create some neat effects by transforming elements in three-dimensional space. Slicebox makes use of the 3D transforms properties and allows different kind of effects. The main idea is to create three-dimensional image slices that will rotate and reveal the next image as another side of the 3D object. In case the browser does not support 3D transforms, a simple slider will be used as fallback.

Please note that you can only see the cool 3D effect of Slicebox in a browser that supports those CSS3 properties.

The images used in the demos are by ND Strupler. They are licensed under the Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0).

Usage

In order to use Slicebox, put your images in an unordered list with the class “sb-slider”:

<ul id="sb-slider" class="sb-slider">

	<li>
		<a href="#" target="_blank">
			<img src="images/1.jpg" alt="image1"/>
		</a>
		<div class="sb-description">
			<h3>Creative Lifesaver</h3>
		</div>
	</li>

	<li>
		<img src="images/2.jpg" alt="image2"/>
		<div class="sb-description">
			<h3>...</h3>
		</div>
	</li>

	<li><!-- ... --></li>
	
	<!-- ... -->
	
</ul>

You can use the div with the class “sb-description” to add any kind of description for the respective image. As shown in this example, you can also add an anchor around the image.

Then you can call the plugin with

$('#sb-slider').slicebox();

Options

Slicebox comes with a set of options that you can adjust for various types of effects:

$.Slicebox.defaults = {
	// (v)ertical, (h)orizontal or (r)andom
	orientation : 'v',

	// perspective value
	perspective : 1200,

	// number of slices / cuboids
	// needs to be an odd number 15 => number > 0 (if you want the limit higher, 
	// change the _validate function).
	cuboidsCount : 5,

	// if true then the number of slices / cuboids is going to be random (cuboidsCount is overwitten)
	cuboidsRandom : false,

	// the range of possible number of cuboids if cuboidsRandom is true
	// it is strongly recommended that you do not set a very large number :)
	maxCuboidsCount : 5,

	// each cuboid will move x pixels left / top (depending on orientation). 
	// The middle cuboid doesn't move. the middle cuboid's neighbors will 
	// move disperseFactor pixels
	disperseFactor : 0,

	// color of the hidden sides
	colorHiddenSides : '#222',

	// the animation will start from left to right. The left most 
	// cuboid will be the first one to rotate
	// this is the interval between each rotation in ms
	sequentialFactor : 150,

	// animation speed
	// this is the speed that takes "1" cuboid to rotate
	speed : 600,

	// transition easing
	easing : 'ease',

	// if true the slicebox will start the animation automatically
	autoplay : false,

	// time (ms) between each rotation, if autoplay is true
	interval: 3000,

	// the fallback will just fade out / fade in the items
	// this is the time fr the fade effect
	fallbackFadeSpeed : 300,
	
	// callbacks
	onBeforeChange : function( position ) { return false; },
	onAfterChange : function( position ) { return false; }
};

Check out each example and you will see how to create different behaviors with the options.

Hope you find it useful, feedback is welcome!

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Manoela Ilic

Manoela is the main tinkerer at Codrops. With a background in coding and passion for all things design, she creates web experiments and keeps frontend professionals informed about the latest trends.

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  1. Hello. I have just added the slider index 6 to my site. It works in Chrome and Safari, but not Firefox. I followed Jon Gaulin’s changes to try to make Firefox work, but got stuck at the instruction to replace content in the slider.js file. I don’t have a slider.js file in my download of the slider. Can Jon or anyone tell me what file that should be? Thank you.
    Marian

  2. I uploaded my files to the server.
    In Chrome it works but, the picture has lines on it where the 3D effect takes place.
    It works in Safari with no lines.
    It still does not work in Firefox

    Also my background image and color disappeared and a blue background appeared.

    Any help would be appreciated.

  3. Hi, in jquery.slicebox.js i’ve added the ‘-moz’ declaration everywhere it was written the ‘webkit’ one, and the situation is improved. In Firefox 11.0 is good, while in firefox 10+ I see portions of images/polygons twisted and overlapped to the main image.

    In all other browsers for me is good

  4. first thanks for the slidebox Pedro Botelho and thanks to Jon Gaulin who have fixed some of the errors.
    i dont know if it’s only me but i got a error on the options and navigation buttons and i find out that it was the. text-indent:-9000px; in the css that did it so i just replaced
    text-indent:-9000px;

    With
    font-size: 0px;

    only a small change but all errors i’ll say is good to share.

  5. Hey, for some reason all this fixes do not work in my case. Probably there were some cahnges on http://jongaulin.com/2011/11/24/free-minimalist-portfolio/ slicebox js, but website is unavailable. Is there any other place to look for solution? Maybe someone has scripts from Jon Gaulin’s website? Or maybe someone can post a link to the fixed version so i could find what i’m doing worng. Thanks in advance.

  6. This is two hours after Michaels post… Jon’s website is absolutely up !
    This e.g. is a direct link to the script : http://jongaulin.com/demos/minimalfolio/js/jquery.slicebox.js and when you follow his guide it worked for us in each browser!

    What I wanted to contribute is another example – making the whole thing responsive !
    Since Twitter bootstrap became popular and many who are not using it are using other fluid layouts, I thought it would be nice to see it resizing.
    HOW?
    1. store the width of your slicebox container [ the .parentNode of #sb-slider ]

    2. you need to pull your pictures from an image proxy and tell the proxy the width of the slicebox container
    –> if you have access to google page speed api, fine. Best. Read their instructions
    –> if not, choose another or host your own, we use in the example :
    ‘http://images.weserv.nl/?url=’+escape(src.replace(‘http://’,”))+’&w=’+sbW
    – this one requires links without ‘http://’
    – sbW is the containers’ width …

    3. do step 2 in an onResizeEnd event but only if the container width, you stored in step 1 is different
    The onResizeEnd event can be fetched in many different ways, but there is no ‘native’ one …

    optional : have a preloader as the background image of the slicebox container

    Feel free to have a look at the working example, I made with Bootstrap and its standard responsive.css a minute ago :
    http://sebastianlasse.de/kunde/kurt/01/
    resize the window …

  7. Great stuff!
    It works great on iOS deviced, much better than commercial plugs.
    But how do I add controls, just like nivo slider’s dot controls ?

  8. not sure if anyone else noticed that the example # 5 shows the slice line for the last 4 pieces and these lines remain visible throughout the whole animation sequence so maybe the source code for the demo need to be upgraded or the solution can be posted here either way this is awesome.

  9. Does anyone know how to set the current image in the rotation?

    I am using this plugin for a gallery that will have 50+ images in the cue. I am not loading all images onLoad. Since I will use jQuery to load images dynamically, I have to regen the slicebox with the new image in the que. Therefore, once I regen the slicebox, I need the ability to set the current image in the rotation.

    • I have played and played with the core code of this plugin and have figured out how to set the current slide. With this change, you can dynamically add images on the fly, regen the slicebox, and continue without the user noticing

      Here is the changes…

      1) Define the default:
      FIND: {around line 66}
      $.slicebox.defaults = {

      REPLACE WITH:
      $.slicebox.defaults = {
      currentSlide : 0, //EXTREME- Current slide position

      2) Set variable in $.Box3d function (sets everything but image that is displayed)
      FIND: {around line 148}
      this.imageCurrent = 0;

      REPLACE WITH:
      this.imageCurrent = options.currentSlide;

      3) Set image to be displayed

      FIND: {around line 533}
      this._showImage( i , 0, $imgs );

      REPLACE WITH:
      this._showImage( i , options.currentSlide, $imgs );

  10. I also tried to link the pictures to another site. But it still doesn’t work. I mean when I place them in a oder make an <a> tag the slider can’t show the img.
    I think it’s a problem in the JS right? Cause it just loads images?!
    Does someone know how to solve that problem.
    The slider looks great but without the link feature it makes no sense at all 😀
    Thanks a lot!

    • if you are using HTML5, you can wrap block-level elements in an anchor. I will have to modify the code to do this myself. However, I think it may be easier to set unique id’s on the slides and use jquery to set click events. However, using an anchor around the initial image elements, before slicebox runs, allow for the images to still link in the absence of JavaScript. If I modify the code to include this functionality, I will post changes here

    • Here is how I did it. I started by wrapping the images with the anchor as you normally would in HTML. THen I store all the info from the anchor, remove them, then wrap the block back up later. In order for the line numbers I mention to match up, you must make the changes as you go
      /***************/
      FIND: {Replace entire function around line 66}
      $.slicebox = function( options, element ) {
      this.$element = $( element );
      this._create( options );
      };
      REPLACE WITH:
      $.slicebox = function( options, element ) {
      if ( $(“a”).parent(“#sb-slider”).length == 1 ) {
      var anchorArray = [];
      $(“#sb-slider a”).each(function (i) {
      arrayEntry = ‘<a';
      for (var i = 0; i ‘;
      anchorArray.push(arrayEntry);
      });
      $(“#sb-slider a img”).unwrap();
      }
      this.$element = $( element );
      this._create( options, anchorArray );
      };
      /***************/
      FIND: {around line 97}
      _create : function( options ) {
      REPLACE WITH:
      _create : function( options, anchorArray ) {
      /***************/
      FIND: {around line 109}
      instance.box = new $.Box3d( instance.options, $images, instance.$element );
      $images.remove();
      REPLACE WITH:
      instance.box = new $.Box3d( instance.options, $images, instance.$element );
      $(‘#slicebox’).wrap(anchorArray[options.currentSlide] + ‘‘);
      $images.remove();
      /***************/
      FIND: {around line 189}
      this.$box = $(”).css( boxStyle ).appendTo( this.wrapper.css({
      REPLACE WITH:
      this.$box = $(”).css( boxStyle ).appendTo( this.wrapper.css({

    • I spoke too soon with the posting of those last changes. I ended up having to alter the code extensively to pass the anchorArray variable all the way to the rotate function. once there, I had to unwrap and rewrap the box. Likely not the cleanest solution, but it is too much code to post here

  11. This does not work in Firefox 11.0 on PC, does any one know of a work around?

  12. Guys, there will be an update of the Slicebox plugin during next week! I will try to include all the requests made in the comments. Stay tuned! Cheers

  13. Friend, how do you increase the size of the image? I put 1400×370, the problem is that when it changes, the “responsive” does not work right. The slider, the size of the smartphone, does not look right, it gets bigger and crosses the page. Help me please!