Adding Shadows to SVG Icons With CSS and SVG Filters

Adding Shadows to SVG Icons With CSS and SVG Filters

SVG icons are great for user interfaces, but they can be a bit tricky when it comes to creating visuals that look realistic and modern. Fortunately, there is a way to add shadows and other effects to SVG icons using CSS and SVG filters.

The key to adding shadows to SVG icons is to use the filter property. This property allows you to specify an SVG filter or set of filters to apply to the element. The most common approach is to use the feGaussianBlur filter, which is a blur effect that can create a shadow effect.

To use the feGaussianBlur filter, you first need to define a filter in SVG. This is done by creating an SVG filter element that contains a feGaussianBlur element. The feGaussianBlur element takes two attributes: stdDeviation, which controls the amount of blur, and in, which specifies the source of the blur effect.

Once the filter is defined in SVG, you can apply it to any SVG element using the filter property. To apply the filter, you would specify the url() of the filter inside the filter property value, like so:

element {
    filter: url(#myFilter);
}

You can also adjust the blur amount by changing the stdDeviation attribute value. For example, if you wanted to make the shadow darker, you could increase the stdDeviation value to a larger number. You can also apply multiple filters to an SVG element to create more complex effects.

With these tools, you can easily add shadows and other effects to your SVG icons with CSS and SVG filters. By combining these techniques, you can create visually engaging and modern-looking visuals for your user interfaces.