Premultiply transform functions before interpolation on unequal transform function primitives

—- dataentry —- Spec_tags : css3-transforms #in alpha order; or “none” Owner_tags : krit #Who’s driving the discussion? Status_tags : Resolved #[ Open | Resolved | Closed | Pending ] [, Urgent]? Added_dt : 2012-07-24 #Date added as WG discussion request Action : Resolve if current spec behavior or the behavior suggested by Mozilla should be chosen. Issue_urls : https://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=18366 Proposal_urls : Agenda_urls : #If this is part of an ordered series of related topics, e.g. LC issues, use this to link to the supertopic agenda

Background

If two transforms lists should be interpolated but transform function pairs don’t equal, the spec currently wants the UA to premultiply all functions on each list and interpolate the resulting matrices.

translate() rotate()
translate() scale()

get to

matrix()
matrix()

and interpolated.

Problem Statement

Mozilla asks if we can do the decision on a per transform function pair basis. For the example above:

translate() rotate()
translate() scale()

get to

translate() matrix()
translate() matrix()

The first function pair gets interpolated numerically, the second needs matrix interpolation.

Proposal(s)

I would suggest keeping the specified behavior for performance reasons.

Imagine following example:

translate() rotate() scale()
scale() translate() rotate()

would get to

matrix() matrix() matrix()
matrix() matrix() matrix()

Each function pair would need matrix decomposing and interpolation. I also don’t see any benefit of this way.

Note: For WebKit (for Safari) the HW acceleration needs premultiplied transform functions. Therefore WebKit can’t switch to the preferred way from Mozilla anyway.

  1. http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-style/2012Jul/0460.html

Resolution