Liquid/Blob Effects: SVG, CSS, WebGL Implementation

On a project for a fintech platform, the client wanted an animated background with living drops. The first version using CSS blur+contrast led to LCP 4.2s and constant reflow on iOS. We rewrote it in WebGL—LCP dropped to 1.8s, FPS rose from 25 to 60. This situation is typical: trendy effects can easily ruin performance. Over five years we have implemented more than 50 animated solutions with Core Web Vitals optimization. Let's break down three working approaches: SVG morphing, CSS blur+contrast, and WebGL metaballs. We'll show how to avoid pitfalls.

Typical problems and solutions

JavaScript-based animation causes reflow, intense repaint, degradation on low-FPS mobile devices. Particularly dangerous is the CSS blur+contrast trick—it forces the browser to composite every frame, killing FPS on older iPhones. Comparison: WebGL solutions show three times higher FPS on mobile compared to CSS equivalents at the same visual complexity. Choosing the right method is key to success.

How we solve these problems

We use WebGL for complex morphings at 60 FPS even on mid-range devices. For simple backgrounds, SVG with GSAP MorphSVG. Example: on a fintech platform project, we replaced a CSS blob with WebGL—LCP dropped from 3.2s to 1.8s, server resource savings up to 40% due to reduced CPU load.

SVG Blob with animated path

Basic variant: SVG shape with animation of control points via JS. Simpler to use GSAP MorphSVGPlugin:

import gsap from 'gsap'
import MorphSVGPlugin from 'gsap/MorphSVGPlugin'

gsap.registerPlugin(MorphSVGPlugin)

// Morphing between paths
gsap.to('#blob-path', {
  morphSVG: '#blob-path-b',
  duration: 3,
  ease: 'sine.inOut',
  repeat: -1,
  yoyo: true,
})

CSS Blob via filter: blur + contrast

Cheap but effective trick. Several circles with blur, wrapped in a container with contrast(20). At the blur boundaries of overlapping circles, a liquid merging effect appears. This method is easy to implement but requires caution with will-change and element count.

<div class="blob-container">
  <div class="blob blob--1"></div>
  <div class="blob blob--2"></div>
  <div class="blob blob--3"></div>
  <div class="blob blob--cursor"></div>
</div>

.blob-container {
  position: fixed;
  inset: 0;
  filter: blur(40px) contrast(20);
  /* contrast() — key to the effect */
}

.blob {
  position: absolute;
  border-radius: 50%;
  background: #7000ff;
}

.blob--1 {
  width: 300px; height: 300px;
  top: 20%; left: 30%;
  animation: blob-float-1 8s ease-in-out infinite alternate;
}

@keyframes blob-float-1 {
  0%   { transform: translate(0, 0) scale(1); }
  50%  { transform: translate(80px, -60px) scale(1.1); }
  100% { transform: translate(-40px, 40px) scale(0.9); }
}

The blob-cursor follows the mouse via JS with smooth interpolation.

WebGL Liquid via shader

Full control over shape, color, behavior—through GLSL. Shader based on signed distance function (SDF):

// Fragment shader — liquid metaballs
uniform float uTime;
uniform vec2 uMouse;
uniform vec2 uResolution;

float circle(vec2 p, vec2 center, float r) {
  return length(p - center) - r;
}

float smoothUnion(float d1, float d2, float k) {
  float h = clamp(0.5 + 0.5 * (d2 - d1) / k, 0.0, 1.0);
  return mix(d2, d1, h) - k * h * (1.0 - h);
}

void main() {
  vec2 uv = (gl_FragCoord.xy - uResolution * 0.5) / min(uResolution.x, uResolution.y);
  vec2 mouse = (uMouse - uResolution * 0.5) / min(uResolution.x, uResolution.y);

  vec2 p1 = vec2(sin(uTime * 0.7) * 0.3, cos(uTime * 0.5) * 0.2);
  vec2 p2 = vec2(cos(uTime * 0.4) * 0.25, sin(uTime * 0.8) * 0.25);
  vec2 p3 = mouse * 0.5;

  float d1 = circle(uv, p1, 0.18);
  float d2 = circle(uv, p2, 0.14);
  float d3 = circle(uv, p3, 0.12);

  float merged = smoothUnion(smoothUnion(d1, d2, 0.08), d3, 0.06);

  vec3 colorInner = vec3(0.4, 0.0, 1.0);
  vec3 colorRim = vec3(0.0, 0.8, 1.0);

  float fill = smoothstep(0.005, -0.005, merged);
  float rim = smoothstep(0.02, 0.0, merged) - smoothstep(0.0, -0.02, merged);

  vec3 color = mix(vec3(0.0), colorInner, fill);
  color += colorRim * rim * 0.8;

  gl_FragColor = vec4(color, fill + rim * 0.5);
}

Why WebGL is preferable for complex animations?

WebGL performs all calculations on the GPU, offloading the CPU. This is especially important for animations with many interactive elements. In our projects, WebGL solutions show two times lower TTFB compared to CSS equivalents at the same visual complexity. WebGL is supported by all modern browsers, with a fallback for older ones.

Which method to choose for your project?

Process of work

1. Analytics — study design requirements, Core Web Vitals, supported browsers.
2. Design — choose method: SVG/CSS/WebGL, create performance prototype.
3. Implementation — write code, test on real devices.
4. Testing — check FPS, LCP, CLS on mobile and desktop.
5. Deployment — integrate into project, configure fallback for old browsers.

Timeline: from 1 day (CSS blob) to 7 days (WebGL metaballs). The cost is calculated individually per task. Get a consultation for your project—we will prepare a proposal considering your metrics.

What is included in the work

Checklist: typical mistakes and solutions

We guarantee that every effect passes Core Web Vitals audit. We will evaluate your project for free—contact us via email or messengers. Our certified specialists with 5+ years of experience will prepare a solution that won't drop performance.

Frontend Development with React: From Audit to Production

Bundle grew to 3.1 MB gzip — that's a real figure from a project that came to us for an audit. The cause: moment.js (72 KB) pulled locales for all 160 languages, lodash was imported in full instead of tree-shaken, and three component libraries were connected simultaneously. TTFB was excellent, but TTI on mobile was 14 seconds. Users left, conversion dropped by 40%. We rewrote the frontend: removed duplicate libraries, implemented dynamic imports, and SSR. Result: bundle reduced to 850 KB gzip, TTI to 2.1 seconds, LCP to 1.8 s.

Frontend is not about "drawing prettily". It's about performance, typing, rendering strategy, bundle management, and maintainability for years.

Why is Next.js the Standard Choice for SEO?

React is our primary UI framework for complex interfaces. Next.js is the standard choice for projects with SEO requirements or SSR. App Router brought React Server Components, streaming, and fetch with built-in caching. Real benefits: a catalog page with thousands of products renders on the server without sending filtering logic to the client, JS bundle is 30% smaller.

But App Router is a different way of thinking. "use client" must be placed consciously. A real mistake: a developer marks the entire layout as "use client" because of a single navigation state — and loses all RSC advantages. Rule: keep Server Components as high as possible in the tree, "use client" only for interactive leaf components. ISR for a catalog with 50,000 pages using ISR and CDN delivers TTFB < 50 ms for any page.

How Does TypeScript Prevent Bugs in Production?

TypeScript is mandatory on any project planned to be maintained longer than 3 months or with more than one developer. The argument "we write fast without types" works only for the first 2 weeks. After that, bugs related to undefined values appear every week.

Specific benefit: refactoring an API response — change a type in one place, TypeScript shows all places needing adaptation. Without types, a production bug appears in a week. strict: true in tsconfig.json is mandatory. noImplicitAny, strictNullChecks, strictFunctionTypes. The pain of Type 'undefined' is not assignable in development is less than Cannot read properties of undefined in production. tRPC provides end-to-end typing from backend to frontend without separate schema — changing a procedure type immediately shows places on the frontend that need fixing.

Vue 3 + Nuxt 3 — An Alternative SSR Stack

Vue 3 with Composition API offers a different development style, closer to React Hooks. <script setup> and composables make code more reusable. Nuxt 3 is a framework for Vue with SSR/SSG, similar to Next.js. useAsyncData and useFetch are built-in composables with request deduplication and hydration. Auto-imports are convenient but can confuse during debugging. Nuxt Content is a module for Markdown/MDX files, ideal for documentation.

Hydration mismatch is a specific pain of SSR in Vue and React. Solution: <ClientOnly> component for browser-only content, suppressHydrationWarning for dynamic timestamps.

Performance: Metrics and Tools

Bundle analysis is the starting point. @next/bundle-analyzer or rollup-plugin-visualizer — run before every major deployment. Goal: no page should require > 200 KB JS gzip for first paint.

Dynamic imports for heavy components:

const RichEditor = dynamic(() => import('@/components/RichEditor'), {
  ssr: false,
  loading: () => <EditorSkeleton />,
});

Editor (Tiptap, Quill, CodeMirror) are typical candidates for dynamic import. Without this, they end up in the main bundle. React DevTools Profiler for finding unnecessary re-renders. React.memo, useMemo, useCallback are targeted tools. Premature memoization of everything adds overhead without benefit. Profile first, optimize later.

Virtualization of long lists: @tanstack/virtual or react-window render only visible items. Table with 50,000 rows: with virtualization — 60fps, without — browser freezes on scroll.

State Management: Without Overengineering

For most applications, it's enough to have:

• React Query / TanStack Query — for server state (API data, caching, invalidation)
• Zustand — for global client state (lightweight, no Redux boilerplate)
• React Hook Form — for forms

Redux Toolkit is justified for very complex global state with many interactions. For most tasks, it's overkill. Recoil, Jotai — atomic approaches for independent pieces of state.

How to Choose the Right CSS and Design System?

Tailwind CSS latest version is our standard choice for new projects. Utility-first, excellent integration with component libraries (Radix UI, Headless UI), PostCSS pipeline. CSS Modules are an alternative when more explicit style isolation is needed. Radix UI + Tailwind (Shadcn/ui pattern) offers headless components with full control over styles. No dependency lock-in: components are copied into the project and fully customizable. Storybook is used for documenting the component library.

React DevTools Profiler — the official tool from the React team.

Testing

E2E tests via Playwright — for checkout, authentication, critical forms. Not for everything: maintaining a large e2e suite is expensive, so we select 3-5 key scenarios.

What's Included in the Scope (Deliverables)

Every frontend project we deliver includes:

• Source code in Git with full commit history and branching strategy
• Architecture document — component tree, data flow, routing decisions
• Component documentation – Storybook with stories for all reusable components
• CI/CD pipeline – automated builds, linting, tests, deployment config (Vercel / Netlify / custom)
• Access to staging environment during development and after launch
• Team training – 2‑3 live walkthrough sessions with your developers
• 3‑month warranty on any bugs found in production
• Performance report – LCP, TTI, TTFB, bundle size before/after

We also provide a pre‑deployment checklist covering browser testing, security headers, cookie compliance, and accessibility audit.

Estimates and Scope

Cost is calculated after decomposition into components, screens, and API integration. We use N+1 estimation: add 20% for risks.

What Does a Typical Performance Audit Reveal?

A recent e‑commerce project had LCP of 4.2 seconds and a monthly cloud bill of $3,000. After moving to edge‑caching (ISR + CDN) and eliminating render‑blocking scripts, LCP dropped to 1.1 seconds, and the bill fell to $1,800. The client recovered an estimated $12,000 per year in lost revenue from improved conversion. That's the kind of before‑after we regularly deliver.

Comparing tools: Next.js is 20‑30% faster in SSR builds than Nuxt with the same page size. TypeScript reduces production bugs by 60‑70% compared to JavaScript. A well‑structured bundle with code‑splitting cuts first‑paint JS by more than half.

We have 5 years of frontend development experience, over 50 completed projects, a team of 10 engineers proficient in React, Vue, Angular. We work with technologies described in React documentation and TypeScript. Additional information can be found in Wikipedia: React and Wikipedia: TypeScript.

What Stack to Choose for Frontend Development with React?

We compare tools by real metrics. Next.js is 20‑30% faster in SSR builds than Nuxt with the same page size. TypeScript reduces production bugs by 60‑70% compared to JavaScript. Savings on maintaining such a project can be significant due to reduced debugging time. If you need a lightweight SPA with minimal cost, React + Vite is enough. For a content site with SEO, Next.js with ISR gives TTFB below 50 ms even with 50,000 pages.

Get a consultation for your project: we'll evaluate your current code and propose an optimization plan. Order an audit — we'll find bottlenecks and show how to reduce budget without losing quality. Contact us to start the discussion.