Radar scanner effect using jquery

Question

I'm trying to figure out a possible solution on how to create a radar scanner effect using jquery and css. Essentially, a semi-transparent triangle would rotate around the middle point of a div. Is this possible with jquery or should I resort to some other means? I prefer to not use animated gifs.

Answer 1

CSS only demonstration

HTML:

<div id="radar">
    <div class="beacon" id="beacon"></div>
    <div class="beacon" id="beacon-75"></div>
    <div class="beacon" id="beacon-50"></div>
    <div class="beacon" id="beacon-25"></div>
    <div class="circle" id="circle-big"></div>
    <div class="circle" id="circle-medium"></div>
    <div class="circle" id="circle-small"></div>
    <div class="circle" id="dot"></div>
    <div id="vertical"></div>
    <div id="horizontal"></div>
</div>

CSS:

#radar {
    position:relative;
    width:400px;
    height:400px;
    margin:20px auto;
    border:3px solid #0c0;
    background-color:#020;
    border-radius:50%;
}
#radar>* {position:absolute}
.beacon {
    left:50%;
    top:50%;
    border-style:solid;
    border-width:8px 200px 8px 0;
    border-color:transparent;
    margin-top:-8px;
    transform-origin:0 50%;
}
#beacon {border-right-color:#0c0;animation:spin 2s 0s linear infinite}
#beacon-75 {border-right-color:rgba(0,204,0,0.75);animation:spin 2s 0.03s linear infinite}
#beacon-50 {border-right-color:rgba(0,204,0,0.5);animation:spin 2s 0.06s linear infinite}
#beacon-25 {border-right-color:rgba(0,204,0,0.25);animation:spin 2s 0.09s linear infinite}
.circle {
    left:50%;
    top:50%;
    border:1px solid #0c0;
    border-radius:50%;
}
#circle-big {
    width:300px;
    height:300px;
    margin:-150px;
}
#circle-medium {
    width:200px;
    height:200px;
    margin:-100px;
}
#circle-small {
    width:100px;
    height:100px;
    margin:-50px;
}
#dot {
    width:8px;
    height:8px;
    margin:-4px;
    background-color:#0c0;
}
#vertical {
    left:50%;
    top:0;
    bottom:0;
    border-left:1px solid #0c0;
}
#horizontal {
    top:50%;
    left:0;
    right:0;
    border-top:1px solid #0c0;
}

@keyframes spin {
    from {transform:rotate(0)}
    to {transform:rotate(360deg)}
}

Please note that to support some browsers you will need to add vendor prefixes, but this by itself works in IE10 and Firefox.

Answer 2

$(function() {

  var $rad = $('#rad'),
      $obj = $('.obj'),
      deg = 0,
      rad = $rad.width() / 2;

  $obj.each(function(){
    var pos = $(this).data(),
        getAtan = Math.atan2(pos.x-rad, pos.y-rad),
        getDeg = (-getAtan/(Math.PI/180) + 180) | 0;
    // Read/set positions and store degree
    $(this).css({left:pos.x, top:pos.y}).attr('data-atDeg', getDeg);
  });

  (function rotate() {      
    $rad.css({transform: 'rotate('+ deg +'deg)'}); // Radar rotation
    $('[data-atDeg='+deg+']').stop().fadeTo(0,1).fadeTo(1700,0.2); // Animate dot at deg

    deg = ++deg % 360;      // Increment and reset to 0 at 360
    setTimeout(rotate, 25); // LOOP
  })();

});

#radar{
  position:relative;
  overflow:hidden;
  width:321px; height:321px;
  background:#222 url(http://i.stack.imgur.com/vY6Tl.png);
  border-radius: 50%;
}
#rad{
  position:absolute;
  width:321px;
  height:321px; background:url(http://i.stack.imgur.com/fbgUD.png);
}
.obj{
  background:#cf5;
  position:absolute;
  border-radius: 50%;
  width:4px; height:4px; margin:-2px;
  box-shadow:0 0 10px 5px rgba(100,255,0,0.5);
  opacity:0.2;
}

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>

<div id="radar">
    <div id="rad"></div>
    <div class="obj" data-x="120" data-y="65"></div>
    <div class="obj" data-x="140" data-y="185"></div>
    <div class="obj" data-x="220" data-y="35"></div>
    <div class="obj" data-x="120" data-y="235"></div>
  </div>

Basic rotation loop:

<div id="radar">
    <div id="rad"></div>
</div>

CSS:

#radar{
  position:relative;
  width:321px;
  height:321px;
  background:#222 url(http://i.stack.imgur.com/vY6Tl.png);
  border-radius:320px;
}
#rad{
  position:absolute;
  width:321px;
  height:321px; background:url(http://i.stack.imgur.com/fbgUD.png);
}

jQuery:

$(function() {

    var $rad = $('#rad'),
        d = 0;

    (function rotate() {    
        $rad.css({ transform: 'rotate('+ d +'deg)'}); // apply CSS3
        setTimeout(function() {
            ++d;         // next degree
            rotate();    // recall function
        }, 25);          // every 25ms
    })();                // 1st start

});