css - How to apply clipPath to a div with the clipPath position being relative to the div position

Question

Not sure if I've formulated the title properly, but here goes the question.

I have an SVG path of a cloud-like shape which I would like to use in CSS with the clip-path property.

<path d="M46.9819755,61.8637972 C42.0075109,66.8848566 35.0759468,70 27.4091794,70 C12.2715076,70 0,57.8557238 0,42.875 C0,32.9452436 5.3914988,24.2616832 13.4354963,19.534921 C14.8172134,8.52285244 24.3072531,0 35.8087666,0 C43.9305035,0 51.0492374,4.2498423 55.01819,10.6250065 C58.2376107,8.87215568 61.9363599,7.875 65.8704472,7.875 C78.322403,7.875 88.4167076,17.8646465 88.4167076,30.1875 C88.4167076,32.1602271 88.1580127,34.0731592 87.6723639,35.8948845 L87.6723639,35.8948845 C93.3534903,38.685457 97.2583784,44.4851888 97.2583784,51.1875 C97.2583784,60.6108585 89.5392042,68.25 80.0171204,68.25 C75.4841931,68.25 71.3598367,66.5188366 68.2822969,63.6881381 C65.5613034,65.4654463 62.3012892,66.5 58.7971106,66.5 C54.2246352,66.5 50.0678912,64.7384974 46.9819755,61.8637972 Z" fill="lightblue" />

When I add an SVG element in HTML and define <clipPath> with that path, the browser positions the clipping path in the top-left corner. If I apply a margin to the clipped element, the mask is not linked and stays in its initial position.

Other similar threads state that the clipPathUnits="objectBoundingBox" attribute should be added to the <clipPath> object, but that doesn't seem to solve my problem. I even transformed the path from absolute to relative and tried it like that, but got the same result.

Is it possible to somehow link the clipping path with the clipped element so that when positioning is applied to the clipped element, the clipping path moves as well?

Here is the relative path, if it helps:

<path d="M46.9819755,61.8637972c-4.974,5.021,-11.906,8.136,-19.573,8.136c-15.137,0,-27.409,-12.144,-27.409,-27.125c0,-9.93,5.392,-18.613,13.436,-23.34c1.381,-11.012,10.871,-19.535,22.373,-19.535c8.122,0,15.24,4.25,19.209,10.625c3.22,-1.753,6.918,-2.75,10.852,-2.75c12.452,0,22.547,9.99,22.547,22.313c0,1.972,-0.259,3.885,-0.745,5.707l0,0c5.682,2.791,9.586,8.59,9.586,15.293c0,9.423,-7.719,17.062,-17.241,17.062c-4.533,0,-8.657,-1.731,-11.735,-4.562c-2.721,1.778,-5.981,2.812,-9.485,2.812c-4.572,0,-8.729,-1.761,-11.815,-4.636z fill="lightblue" />

As well as some test HTML/CSS. (I've set the left property to 10px so that you see the clipping issue occur)

.clippedElement {
  width: 200px;
  height: 200px;
  position: absolute;
  left: 10px;
  top: 0;
  background-color: lightblue;
  -webkit-clip-path: url(#cloudClip);
  -moz-clip-path: url(#cloudClip);
  clip-path: url(#cloudClip);
}

<svg>
  <defs>
    <clipPath id="cloudClip">
      <path d="M46.9819755,61.8637972 C42.0075109,66.8848566 35.0759468,70 27.4091794,70 C12.2715076,70 0,57.8557238 0,42.875 C0,32.9452436 5.3914988,24.2616832 13.4354963,19.534921 C14.8172134,8.52285244 24.3072531,0 35.8087666,0 C43.9305035,0 51.0492374,4.2498423 55.01819,10.6250065 C58.2376107,8.87215568 61.9363599,7.875 65.8704472,7.875 C78.322403,7.875 88.4167076,17.8646465 88.4167076,30.1875 C88.4167076,32.1602271 88.1580127,34.0731592 87.6723639,35.8948845 L87.6723639,35.8948845 C93.3534903,38.685457 97.2583784,44.4851888 97.2583784,51.1875 C97.2583784,60.6108585 89.5392042,68.25 80.0171204,68.25 C75.4841931,68.25 71.3598367,66.5188366 68.2822969,63.6881381 C65.5613034,65.4654463 62.3012892,66.5 58.7971106,66.5 C54.2246352,66.5 50.0678912,64.7384974 46.9819755,61.8637972 Z"
      />
    </clipPath>
  </defs>
</svg>
<div class="clippedElement"></div>

Answer 1

Thanks to Robert's comment, I was able to solve the issue I had.

Here is a PHP snippet I used to convert the absolute path to relative, so that the values are between 0 and 1.

$absolute_path = "M46.9819755,61.8637972 C42.0075109,66.8848566 35.0759468,70 27.4091794,70 C12.2715076,70 0,57.8557238 0,42.875 C0,32.9452436 5.3914988,24.2616832 13.4354963,19.534921 C14.8172134,8.52285244 24.3072531,0 35.8087666,0 C43.9305035,0 51.0492374,4.2498423 55.01819,10.6250065 C58.2376107,8.87215568 61.9363599,7.875 65.8704472,7.875 C78.322403,7.875 88.4167076,17.8646465 88.4167076,30.1875 C88.4167076,32.1602271 88.1580127,34.0731592 87.6723639,35.8948845 L87.6723639,35.8948845 C93.3534903,38.685457 97.2583784,44.4851888 97.2583784,51.1875 C97.2583784,60.6108585 89.5392042,68.25 80.0171204,68.25 C75.4841931,68.25 71.3598367,66.5188366 68.2822969,63.6881381 C65.5613034,65.4654463 62.3012892,66.5 58.7971106,66.5 C54.2246352,66.5 50.0678912,64.7384974 46.9819755,61.8637972 Z";
function regex_callback($matches) {
    static $count = -1;
    $count++;
    $width = 98;
    $height = 70;
    if($count % 2) {
        return $matches[0] / $height;
    } else {
        return $matches[0] / $width;
    }
}

$relative_path = preg_replace_callback('(d+(.d+)?)', 'regex_callback', $absolute_path);

Since the clipping path is not rectangular, I couldn't divide the values with one number, but had to use the width and the height of the clipping path itself.

.clippedElement {
  width: 98px;
  height: 70px;
  position: absolute;
  left: 10px;
  top: 0;
  background-color: lightblue;
  -webkit-clip-path: url(#cloudClip);
  -moz-clip-path: url(#cloudClip);
  clip-path: url(#cloudClip);
}

<svg width="98" height="70">
<defs>
    <clipPath id="cloudClip" clipPathUnits="objectBoundingBox">
        <path d="M0.47940791326531,0.88376853142857 C0.42864807040816,0.95549795142857 0.3579178244898,1 0.27968550408163,1 C0.12521946530612,1 0,0.82651034 0,0.6125 C0,0.47064633714286 0.055015293877551,0.34659547428571 0.13709690102041,0.2790703 C0.15119605510204,0.12175503485714 0.24803319489796,0 0.36539557755102,0 C0.44827044387755,0 0.52091058571429,0.060712032857143 0.56141010204082,0.15178580714286 C0.59426133367347,0.12674508114286 0.63200367244898,0.1125 0.67214742040816,0.1125 C0.79920819387755,0.1125 0.90221130204082,0.25520923571429 0.90221130204082,0.43125 C0.90221130204082,0.45943181571429 0.89957155816327,0.48675941714286 0.89461595816327,0.51278406428571 L0.89461595816327,0.51278406428571 C0.95258663571429,0.55264938571429 0.99243243265306,0.63550269714286 0.99243243265306,0.73125 C0.99243243265306,0.86586940714286 0.91366534897959,0.975 0.81650122857143,0.975 C0.77024686836735,0.975 0.72816159897959,0.95026909428571 0.69675813163265,0.90983054428571 C0.66899289183673,0.93522066142857 0.63572744081633,0.95 0.59997051632653,0.95 C0.55331260408163,0.95 0.51089684897959,0.92483567714286 0.47940791326531,0.88376853142857 Z"></path>
    </clipPath>
</defs>
</svg>
<div class="clippedElement"></div>