How to Transition an Image from B&W to Color with Canvas

Recently, in the CodeCanyon forums, a question was brought up: "How do I transition an image from black and white, to color -- using only one image?" Unfortunately, at this point in time, it's not possible with CSS. However, if we're creative with JavaScript and canvas, we can create a solution relatively easily. I'll show you how in today's video tutorial!

Final Source


<!DOCTYPE html> 
 
<html lang="en"> 
<head> 
   <meta charset="utf-8"> 
   <title>untitled</title> 
	<style> 
		/* Setup...not important. */
		.img-wrap {
			width: 500px;
			margin: 100px auto;
			position: relative;
			cursor: pointer;
		}
		
		/* Handles animation of b*w to color */
		canvas {
			position: absolute;
			left: 0;
			top: 0;
			opacity: 1;
			-webkit-transition: all 1s;
			-moz-transition: all 1s;
			-o-transition: all 1s;
			-ms-transition: all 1s;
			transition: all 1s;
		}
		
		canvas:hover {
			opacity: 0;
		}
		
		/* If you MUST have IE support */
		#cvs-src {
		   filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.BasicImage(grayscale=1);
		}
		
		#cvs-src:hover {
			filter: none;
		}
	</style>  
</head> 
<body> 
 
<div class="img-wrap"> 
	<img id="cvs-src" src="your-image.jpg" /> 
	<canvas width=500 height=500></canvas> 
</div> 
 
<script> 
	(function() {
		var supportsCanvas = !!document.createElement('canvas').getContext;
		supportsCanvas && (window.onload = greyImages);
		
		function greyImages() {
			var ctx = document.getElementsByTagName("canvas")[0].getContext('2d'),
				img = document.getElementById("cvs-src"),
				imageData, px, length, i = 0,
				grey;
			
			ctx.drawImage(img, 0, 0);
			
			// Set 500,500 to the width and height of your image.
			imageData = ctx.getImageData(0, 0, 500, 500);
			px = imageData.data;
			length = px.length;
					
			for ( ; i < length; i+= 4 ) {
				grey = px[i] * .3 + px[i+1] * .59 + px[i+2] * .11;
				px[i] = px[i+1] = px[i+2] = grey;
			}
			
			ctx.putImageData(imageData, 0, 0);		
		}
	})();
</script> 
 
</body> 
</html>

Conclusion

So what do you think? Would you use this technique in your own projects? Can you think of a better way that doesn't involve using a server-side language or sprites? Let me know in the comments!

1
2	<!DOCTYPE html>
3
4	<html lang="en">
5	<head>
6	<meta charset="utf-8">
7	<title>untitled</title>
8	<style>
9	/* Setup...not important. */
10	.img-wrap {
11	width: 500px;
12	margin: 100px auto;
13	position: relative;
14	cursor: pointer;
15	}
16
17	/* Handles animation of bw to color /
18	canvas {
19	position: absolute;
20	left: 0;
21	top: 0;
22	opacity: 1;
23	-webkit-transition: all 1s;
24	-moz-transition: all 1s;
25	-o-transition: all 1s;
26	-ms-transition: all 1s;
27	transition: all 1s;
28	}
29
30	canvas:hover {
31	opacity: 0;
32	}
33
34	/* If you MUST have IE support */
35	#cvs-src {
36	filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.BasicImage(grayscale=1);
37	}
38
39	#cvs-src:hover {
40	filter: none;
41	}
42	</style>
43	</head>
44	<body>
45
46	<div class="img-wrap">
47	<img id="cvs-src" src="your-image.jpg" />
48	<canvas width=500 height=500></canvas>
49	</div>
50
51	<script>
52	(function() {
53	var supportsCanvas = !!document.createElement('canvas').getContext;
54	supportsCanvas && (window.onload = greyImages);
55
56	function greyImages() {
57	var ctx = document.getElementsByTagName("canvas")[0].getContext('2d'),
58	img = document.getElementById("cvs-src"),
59	imageData, px, length, i = 0,
60	grey;
61
62	ctx.drawImage(img, 0, 0);
63
64	// Set 500,500 to the width and height of your image.
65	imageData = ctx.getImageData(0, 0, 500, 500);
66	px = imageData.data;
67	length = px.length;
68
69	for ( ; i < length; i+= 4 ) {
70	grey = px[i] * .3 + px[i+1] * .59 + px[i+2] * .11;
71	px[i] = px[i+1] = px[i+2] = grey;
72	}
73
74	ctx.putImageData(imageData, 0, 0);
75	}
76	})();
77	</script>
78
79	</body>
80	</html>