Visual & Design · Self-initiated

Hikiwatashi

Japanese for “The handover” — an animated short film in which Roxy Kaze arrives at a car workshop to collect an item. The tuning workshop is a cover for something else.

Animated short
Motion direction
Original IP

Sequences

Built shot-by-shot in Blender

Individual sequences from the short. Each shot was treated as its own production pass — modelling, lighting, animation, render. The story drives the visual: every shot lands a beat, not just a look. All clips are silent and auto-loop.

Sequence 02

Sequence 03

Sequence 04

Sequence 05 — workshop entry

Sequence 07

Sequence 08 — character beat

Sequence 09

Sequence 10

Sequence 11

Sequence 12 — environment

Sequence 13

Sequence 14

Behind the scenes

Built in Blender + DAZ Studio

Every frame is built in 3D from the ground up. Characters modelled in DAZ Studio. Hair, particles, cloth and rigid-body physics simulated in Blender — the car is fully rigged, the bag has its own physics solve, and even the fleas have their own. Layered on top: atmospheric smoke effects, in-engine compositing for the anamorphic camera look with oval bokeh, and a colour-grade pass through Blender's compositor as the final stage.

Sequence 15 — viewport

Sequence 16 — viewport

Sequence 17 — viewport

Sequence 18 — handover moment, viewport

Sequence 19 — viewport

Sequence 20 — viewport

Sequence 21 — viewport

Sequence 22 — viewport

Background

A self-initiated project to push Qolorlab's narrative + 3D production capability beyond client briefs. The constraint: build everything from scratch — original world, original characters, original story — and ship a complete short, not just a tech demo.

What we built

A fully 3D animated short produced in Blender. Multiple sequences cover the workshop arrival, character interaction, and the deeper narrative beats. Supplementary behind-the-scenes 3D-scene documentation captures the lighting + composition workflow per shot.

Approach

Broken into individual sequences, each treated as its own production pass — modeling, lighting, animation, render. Storytelling-driven over visual-driven: every shot has to land a beat, not just look good. Iterated in viewport-renders first to validate composition before committing to final render time.

Outcome

A completed short film demonstrating Qolorlab's ability to deliver narrative 3D content end-to-end — modeling, lighting, animation, and composition working together. Doubles as a portfolio piece for any future animation brief that needs the studio to take a story from blank page to final frame.

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