Chinese New Year E-card | AsiaWorld-Expo 20th Anniversary - Late Studio | Hong Kong Animation Studio

For the 20th anniversary of AsiaWorld-Expo, Late Studio created a lively 3D animated Chinese New Year e-card, in which Expo Bear and a little snake welcome a New Year full of blessings, wishing everyone prosperity and all the best!

Holding a red packet, Expo Bear looks forward to the new year in front of a big red lantern, when a little snake suddenly pops out of a gold ingot bag nearby.

Expo Bear bows to the little snake and hands it the red packet.

Finally, Expo Bear sends New Year greetings to everyone on behalf of AsiaWorld-Expo: Kung Hei Fat Choi!

Pre-productionStoryboard vs. Final

Before starting the animation, Late Studio offered the client two written story options to choose from, then drew a storyboard based on the chosen story and edited it into an animatic, giving the client an early sense of the visuals.

3D ModelsScene and Characters

Before animating, the team first builds the 3D models needed. This time the client provided the mascot’s 3D model, so the team mainly modeled the other objects in the story and added New Year outfits to the main character based on the client’s design.

3D Animation ProcessBlender

With all the 3D models ready, the animation stage began. The team used Blender for the 3D work and animated the characters in Blender, bringing the main character to life!

Besides animating the main character, the team also designed the lighting for each shot to get the best look.

3D work-in-progress vs. final animation: Part 1.

3D work-in-progress vs. final animation: Part 2.

3D work-in-progress vs. final animation: Part 3.

CompositingNuke

The team used Nuke and Adobe After Effects for compositing: the finished animation and scenes were rendered first, then all the elements were brought together in Nuke to refine the lighting, atmosphere and detail, and to better blend the characters with the backgrounds.

Chinese New Year E-card | AsiaWorld-Expo 20th Anniversary

On SiteGiant LED Screen

Besides being shared on social media, the e-card was also played on AsiaWorld-Expo’s giant LED screen, bringing the animation into the real world so visitors could feel the festive New Year atmosphere on site!