What Is CSS clip-path and Why Use It?
The clip-path property clips an element down to a shape, hiding everything outside it, without touching the element's actual box model, layout, or the underlying image or content itself. This css clip-path generator, a clip path generator and clip-path maker in one, exists because hand-writing polygon coordinates is tedious and error-prone: getting a custom shape css right by typing raw percentages means constantly switching between your editor and the browser to check the result. Common real uses: a shaped hero image or product photo, an angled section divider between two page sections, a custom-shaped avatar or badge, or a css triangle shape generator use case like a speech-bubble pointer or a ribbon banner.
How to Use This Visual Clip-Path Editor
Pick a shape function tab: Polygon, Circle, Ellipse, or Inset. For a polygon, drag any handle directly on the preview to reposition that point, or start from one of the 7 presets (triangle, diamond, pentagon, hexagon, arrow, star, parallelogram) and adjust from there, points can also be added, removed, or typed in numerically on the right. For circle, ellipse, and inset, use the sliders to control center position, radius, or inset distance per side. The generated CSS updates live in the output panel; click Copy to grab the clip-path declaration.
polygon() vs circle() vs ellipse() vs inset(): Which to Use
circle() and ellipse() are the simplest clip-path polygon css alternative when the shape really is round, a circular avatar, an oval spotlight, they take a radius (or two, for ellipse) and a center position and nothing else. inset() clips a rectangle in from each of the four edges, optionally with rounded corners via the round keyword, ideal for a simple cropped-rectangle reveal or a border-radius-like effect on a shape clip-path can't otherwise express. polygon() is the general-purpose option and the only one of the four that can produce an arbitrary shape (triangles, chevrons, stars, or any custom outline), at the cost of needing to define every point yourself, which is exactly what the drag-handle editor here is for.
| Function | Best for | Points needed |
|---|---|---|
| circle() | Round avatars, circular reveals | Center + 1 radius |
| ellipse() | Oval shapes, non-uniform round crops | Center + 2 radii |
| inset() | Rectangular crops, optional rounded corners | 4 edge distances |
| polygon() | Triangles, arrows, stars, any custom shape | 3 or more points |
Browser Support and Animating clip-path
clip-path has been supported unprefixed in every major browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge) since around 2018, so a clippy css generator output like this one works without vendor prefixes in any current browser. Since clipping is a progressive enhancement, a browser that somehow doesn't support it just shows the element unclipped rather than broken or hidden. clip-path values can be animated with a CSS transition or @keyframes as long as both the start and end values use the same shape function with the same number of points, animating between a 4-point and a 6-point polygon (or between polygon() and circle()) won't interpolate smoothly in most browsers.