Extend the final state of the first animation for translated element

Question

I know this is asked multiple times here, but I am asking for a different approach for these kind of animations.

Problem:

The 2nd box has mu

Answer 1

As far as I am aware this is not possible with pure CSS because (as you have already indicated), when we add an extra transformation rule to an element which already has a transform, the whole transform gets reset because it overwrites and does not append to the existing transform.

With JS this might be possible to achieve but even there it is going to be tough because we have to do the following:

• Handle the animationend event on completion of the first animation.
• In the handler, get the translateX(...) in pixels.
• Get the CSS keyframe rules of the next animation, modify them to take the translateX(...) as the first part of the transform stack.

Note: I assume that you have a case where there is absolutely no way for you to use the first method mentioned in the question.

---

An alternate method to achieve a similar effect would be to animate the margin or position of an element instead of using transform: translate(). One major downside to this approach is that this would not done at the GPU layer (unlike transform) and hence would be slower when multiple such animations happen at the same time (and could also be expensive).

Using Margins:

The below snippet achieves the effect by animating margin-left and margin-top properties.

.animation-1,
.animation-2,
.animation-3 {
  width: 200px;
  height: 200px;
  display: inline-block;
  background: white;
  box-shadow: 0 2px 2px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14), 0 3px 1px -2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2), 0 1px 5px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.12);
  vertical-align: middle;
}
.movable-1,
.movable-2,
.movable-3 {
  background: #41A186;
  width: 50px;
  height: 50px;
  box-shadow: 0 2px 2px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14), 0 3px 1px -2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2), 0 1px 5px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.12);
  text-align: center;
  vertical-align: middle;
  line-height: 50px;
}
.movable-1 {
  animation-name: move1;
  animation-duration: 4s;
  animation-delay: 0s;
  animation-fill-mode: forwards;
}
.movable-2 {
  animation-name: move2-right, move2-down;
  animation-duration: 2s, 2s;
  animation-delay: 4s, 6s;
  animation-fill-mode: forwards, forwards;
  animation-timing-function: linear;
}
.movable-3 {
  animation-name: move3-diagonal;
  animation-duration: 4s;
  animation-delay: 8s;
  animation-fill-mode: forwards;
  animation-timing-function: linear;
}
@keyframes move1 {
  0% {
    transform: translateX(0px);
  }
  50% {
    transform: translateX(30px);
  }
  100% {
    transform: translateX(30px) translateY(50px);
  }
}
@keyframes move2-right {
  0% {
    margin-left: 0px;
  }
  100% {
    margin-left: 30px;
  }
}
@keyframes move2-down {
  0% {
    margin-top: 0px;
  }
  100% {
    margin-top: 50px;
  }
}
@keyframes move3-diagonal
 {
  0% {
    margin-top: 0px;
    margin-left: 0px;
  }
  100% {
    margin-top: 50px;
    margin-left: 30px;
  }
}

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/prefixfree/1.0.7/prefixfree.min.js"></script>
<div class="animation-1">
  <div class="movable-1">1</div>
</div>
<div class="animation-2">
  <div class="movable-2">2</div>
</div>
<div class="animation-3">
  <div class="movable-3">3</div>
</div>

---

Using Position:

This snippet achieves the same effect by animation left and top properties. The child element has position: absolute.

.animation-1,
.animation-2,
.animation-3 {
  width: 200px;
  height: 200px;
  display: inline-block;
  background: white;
  box-shadow: 0 2px 2px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14), 0 3px 1px -2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2), 0 1px 5px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.12);
  position: relative;
}
.movable-1,
.movable-2,
.movable-3 {
  background: #41A186;
  width: 50px;
  height: 50px;
  box-shadow: 0 2px 2px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14), 0 3px 1px -2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2), 0 1px 5px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.12);
  text-align: center;
  vertical-align: middle;
  line-height: 50px;
  position: absolute;
}
.movable-1 {
  animation-name: move1;
  animation-duration: 4s;
  animation-delay: 0s;
  animation-fill-mode: forwards;
}
.movable-2 {
  animation-name: move2-right, move2-down;
  animation-duration: 2s, 2s;
  animation-delay: 4s, 6s;
  animation-fill-mode: forwards, forwards;
  animation-timing-function: linear;
}
.movable-3 {
  animation-name: move3-diagonal;
  animation-duration: 4s;
  animation-delay: 8s;
  animation-fill-mode: forwards;
  animation-timing-function: linear;
}
@keyframes move1 {
  0% {
    transform: translateX(0px);
  }
  50% {
    transform: translateX(30px);
  }
  100% {
    transform: translateX(30px) translateY(50px);
  }
}
@keyframes move2-right {
  0% {
    left: 0px;
  }
  100% {
    left: 30px;
  }
}
@keyframes move2-down {
  0% {
    top: 0px;
  }
  100% {
    top: 50px;
  }
}
@keyframes move3-diagonal {
  0% {
    top: 0px;
    left: 0px;
  }
  100% {
    top: 50px;
    left: 30px;
  }
}

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/prefixfree/1.0.7/prefixfree.min.js"></script>
<div class="animation-1">
  <div class="movable-1">1</div>
</div>
<div class="animation-2">
  <div class="movable-2">2</div>
</div>
<div class="animation-3">
  <div class="movable-3">3</div>
</div>

---

Note: As described in my answer here, you can of-course add a wrapper element and set the move-down animation to it. This would produce the same effect as the first one but I am not suggesting that approach because it is against the very point of your question (which in my opinion was - how to add multiple animations to the same element and make the second start from where the first ended).

.animation-1,
.animation-2 {
  width: 200px;
  height: 200px;
  display: inline-block;
  background: white;
  box-shadow: 0 2px 2px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14), 0 3px 1px -2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2), 0 1px 5px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.12);
}
.movable-1,
.movable-2 {
  background: #41A186;
  width: 50px;
  height: 50px;
  box-shadow: 0 2px 2px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.14), 0 3px 1px -2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2), 0 1px 5px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.12);
  text-align: center;
  vertical-align: middle;
  line-height: 50px;
}
.movable-1 {
  animation-name: move1;
  animation-duration: 4s;
  animation-delay: 0s;
  animation-fill-mode: forwards;
}
.movable-2 {
  animation-name: move2-right;
  animation-duration: 2s;
  animation-delay: 4s;
  animation-fill-mode: forwards;
}
.movable-2-wrapper {
  animation-name: move2-down;
  animation-duration: 2s;
  animation-delay: 6s;
  animation-fill-mode: forwards;
}
@keyframes move1 {
  0% {
    transform: translateX(0px);
  }
  50% {
    transform: translateX(30px);
  }
  100% {
    transform: translateX(30px) translateY(50px);
  }
}
@keyframes move2-right {
  0% {
    transform: translateX(0px);
  }
  50% {
    transform: translateX(30px);
  }
  100% {
    transform: translateX(30px);
  }
}
@keyframes move2-down {
  0% {
    transform: translateY(0px);
  }
  50% {
    transform: translateY(50px);
  }
  100% {
    transform: translateY(50px);
  }
}

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/prefixfree/1.0.7/prefixfree.min.js"></script>
<div class="animation-1">
  <div class="movable-1">1</div>
</div>
<div class="animation-2">
  <div class='movable-2-wrapper'>
    <div class="movable-2">2</div>
  </div>
</div>