From Digital Models to Global Spectacle: The 3D Work of Yi Fu in Contemporary Entertainment

In contemporary entertainment, where digital assets must withstand real-world performance demands, 3D artists are increasingly tasked with responsibilities that extend far beyond visualization. 

Yi Fu is among a small group of practitioners whose work bridges digital design, fabrication, and live deployment across large-scale entertainment and commercial environments. Her contributions span global concert tours, flagship retail installations, and nationally broadcast television programming, where precision, speed, and structural reliability are non-negotiable.

Once in a Lifetime

Her most recent standout moment came during Katy Perry’s The Lifetimes Tour. The tour crisscrossed North America, South America, Asia, Europe, and Oceania, with 91 shows that sold a million tickets and grossed around $136 million.

During the song “Rise,” Perry performed with a custom stage prop designed to produce fire as a central element of the live pyrotechnic sequence. Although the prop appeared visually complete in its initial digital form, the model contained internal structural conflicts and improper scale that made it unsafe for physical fabrication. These issues became evident after the first physical print, which revealed incorrect proportions that rendered the prop unusable in a live performance setting.

Working under a tight production timeline, Fu reconfigured the prop’s internal geometry and recalibrated its external proportions to eliminate safety hazards and ensure wearability. Her intervention enabled the prop to be successfully manufactured and deployed consistently throughout the tour’s live performances.

Fifth Avenue showcase

It was a textbook definition of grace under pressure, a mindset that has helped Fu thrive in her role as 3D modeler at Tangible Creative, a New York area 3D printing and industrial design company. Her days are spent shaping ideas that must survive both scrutiny and use, models prepared for rendering, printing, and eventual use.

Another showcase for Fu’s work took place on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, where during major holiday periods as many as 23,000 pedestrians per hour flow through the area surrounding Nike’s flagship store. When A’ja Wilson, regarded as one of the greatest basketball players in the Women’s National Basketball Association, launched her signature sneaker, the space within Nike’s flagship store was transformed to honor her presence and achievements. Basketball forms became key structural and visual elements within the installation, integrating branding into the overall spatial design.

As a 3D artist, Fu made a significant contribution to the product display for A’ja Wilson’s signature shoe through 3D-printed display assets. The resulting display installation consisted of multiple 3D-printed basketball elements featuring A’ja Wilson’s signature, A’ja Wilson’s personal logo, and the Nike logo.

Again there was a challenge. When the project reached the 3D printing stage, the most critical visual elements — A’ja Wilson’s signature and personal logo — had not yet been incorporated into the 3D models. Fu intervened to integrate these elements into the final fabrication-ready assets, ensuring that the signature branding was accurately realized before production. Her intervention enabled the display components to be successfully manufactured and installed as part of the flagship retail presentation.

An award for Nick

Other projects allowed her to apply other skills. Fu created the 3D model for the Nickelodeon Valuable Player Award Medal, which is part of Nickelodeon’s initiative to engage children and young fans with the sport of football. The medal was featured in NFL Slimetime Season 5.

To create the medal, she first needed to 3D scan the original Nickelodeon Valuable Player Award trophy and then design a medal that precisely matched the trophy’s curvature and angles. The scanning process itself presented a challenge, as it required her to develop effective scanning techniques to capture the trophy accurately. 

“Overcoming this obstacle reinforced the importance of continuous learning and adaptability in my practice,” she says. “This experience not only expanded my technical skill set but also strengthened my ability to solve unfamiliar problems efficiently.”

Dreams of the future

As Fu looks forward to more challenging projects, what motivates her is the same principle that first drew her to the field: the moment when a digital concept becomes a tangible reality. Her work continues to span entertainment and broadcast media, where she applies 3D design at scale while refining production-ready workflows.

Fu’s professional focus remains on projects where scale and storytelling intersect, with an emphasis on approaches that position 3D artistry as a central visual element rather than a purely supportive one.