Sotalo
@sotalo.bsky.social
33 - Gator boi
Curator/Creator of the Virtual Furry Museum
2025 Good Furry Award Nominee
Furry artist in Sarasota, F.L.
Man is no man, but a wolf, to a stranger - Titus Platus
I promote diversity and tolerance. Speak with many, and you will find answers.
Curator/Creator of the Virtual Furry Museum
2025 Good Furry Award Nominee
Furry artist in Sarasota, F.L.
Man is no man, but a wolf, to a stranger - Titus Platus
I promote diversity and tolerance. Speak with many, and you will find answers.
10 - Reduce translucent overdraw! Hotspots with lots of overlapping translucency requires heavy rendering of those pixels. Use overdraw viewer to reduce hotspots, set translucent objects to unlit/none reflection/probes when possible, and make sure translucent materials are simple.
November 14, 2025 at 5:15 PM
10 - Reduce translucent overdraw! Hotspots with lots of overlapping translucency requires heavy rendering of those pixels. Use overdraw viewer to reduce hotspots, set translucent objects to unlit/none reflection/probes when possible, and make sure translucent materials are simple.
9 - Avoid continuous syncing/update! These scripts run constantly! Manage scripts between persistent and areas that trigger on/off so scripts are only processed as needed. Use Start and On Enable for initializing, request serialization after calling synced variables. Disabled scripts don't work.
November 14, 2025 at 5:15 PM
9 - Avoid continuous syncing/update! These scripts run constantly! Manage scripts between persistent and areas that trigger on/off so scripts are only processed as needed. Use Start and On Enable for initializing, request serialization after calling synced variables. Disabled scripts don't work.
8 - Set walls, floor, and ceiling to a higher render queue! This reduces pixel overdraw by drawing these items last, ensuring pixels behind objects don't get rendered first. Unity can't sort distance when combined objects (centerpoint = room center) mix with objects that aren't.
November 14, 2025 at 5:15 PM
8 - Set walls, floor, and ceiling to a higher render queue! This reduces pixel overdraw by drawing these items last, ensuring pixels behind objects don't get rendered first. Unity can't sort distance when combined objects (centerpoint = room center) mix with objects that aren't.
7 - Set up light probes and bake using Bakery's L2! This uses full L2 spherical harmonics which greatly improves the accuracy of color directionality from L1 with negligible performance impact. It's already supported in Unity Standard and requires no special shaders to look great!
November 14, 2025 at 5:15 PM
7 - Set up light probes and bake using Bakery's L2! This uses full L2 spherical harmonics which greatly improves the accuracy of color directionality from L1 with negligible performance impact. It's already supported in Unity Standard and requires no special shaders to look great!
6 - Use layer culling masks! Exclude everything but the local player for local-player-only triggers. Exclude non-important objects from realtime reflections, lights, cameras, triggers, and colliders. Managing layer masks makes everything work the way you want and improves performance considerably!
November 14, 2025 at 5:15 PM
6 - Use layer culling masks! Exclude everything but the local player for local-player-only triggers. Exclude non-important objects from realtime reflections, lights, cameras, triggers, and colliders. Managing layer masks makes everything work the way you want and improves performance considerably!
5 - Add one reflection probe per room! These bake reflections for PBR materials and prevent metals and robot avatars from going black. Use box projection for accurate reflections in rectilinear rooms and sphere for general reflections that may not line up. If possible, avoid increasing the size.
November 14, 2025 at 5:15 PM
5 - Add one reflection probe per room! These bake reflections for PBR materials and prevent metals and robot avatars from going black. Use box projection for accurate reflections in rectilinear rooms and sphere for general reflections that may not line up. If possible, avoid increasing the size.
4 - Reduce texture resolution! Flip between normal/high quality until you find the smallest acceptable. DXT1 allows 2 colors+3 shades per block, performing terribly on high color detail and smooth gradients. BC7 is much better but twice the file size. The right settings improve download and VRAM.
November 14, 2025 at 5:15 PM
4 - Reduce texture resolution! Flip between normal/high quality until you find the smallest acceptable. DXT1 allows 2 colors+3 shades per block, performing terribly on high color detail and smooth gradients. BC7 is much better but twice the file size. The right settings improve download and VRAM.
3 - Bake lighting! BIRP Dynamic lights get very expensive if too many cast on the same mesh or have shadows. Ensure all meshes have a non-overlapping second UV set (channel 1) with decent padding. Look at baked lightmap viewer, adjust scale, and shrink UVs on areas that don't need higher resoluton.
November 14, 2025 at 5:15 PM
3 - Bake lighting! BIRP Dynamic lights get very expensive if too many cast on the same mesh or have shadows. Ensure all meshes have a non-overlapping second UV set (channel 1) with decent padding. Look at baked lightmap viewer, adjust scale, and shrink UVs on areas that don't need higher resoluton.
2 - Combine models by room! Individual room meshes are needed for reflection probe setups in BIRP. Meshes with multiple materials DON'T batch together, so combining meshes allows many materials to not compound. Try to keep combined meshes under 65,536 vertices so registers remain 16-bit.
November 14, 2025 at 5:15 PM
2 - Combine models by room! Individual room meshes are needed for reflection probe setups in BIRP. Meshes with multiple materials DON'T batch together, so combining meshes allows many materials to not compound. Try to keep combined meshes under 65,536 vertices so registers remain 16-bit.
The Day One things everyone should know about Unity development:
1 - Use occlusion culling! This removes meshes people can't see from view. Batches kill your framerates, and this helps reduce batches from static objects. The dropdown by the static checkbox gives you options to exclude as needed.
1 - Use occlusion culling! This removes meshes people can't see from view. Batches kill your framerates, and this helps reduce batches from static objects. The dropdown by the static checkbox gives you options to exclude as needed.
November 14, 2025 at 5:15 PM
The Day One things everyone should know about Unity development:
1 - Use occlusion culling! This removes meshes people can't see from view. Batches kill your framerates, and this helps reduce batches from static objects. The dropdown by the static checkbox gives you options to exclude as needed.
1 - Use occlusion culling! This removes meshes people can't see from view. Batches kill your framerates, and this helps reduce batches from static objects. The dropdown by the static checkbox gives you options to exclude as needed.
Good luck getting that.
November 12, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Good luck getting that.
Here's a test of the new optimized signs: 25% reduction in batches, 17% improvement in actual framerates!
Many canvas components are replaced with a single mesh, single shader from a distance.
More optimizations are still underway!
Many canvas components are replaced with a single mesh, single shader from a distance.
More optimizations are still underway!
November 11, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Here's a test of the new optimized signs: 25% reduction in batches, 17% improvement in actual framerates!
Many canvas components are replaced with a single mesh, single shader from a distance.
More optimizations are still underway!
Many canvas components are replaced with a single mesh, single shader from a distance.
More optimizations are still underway!
Before optimization the draw calls were over 650. Now it's 479. That's a 26% improvement in the number of batches!
Over 230 batches are due to Textmesh Pro (need to figure out why they're not instancing), and over 78 for the Furs of Color display, which needs LODs to combine materials.
Over 230 batches are due to Textmesh Pro (need to figure out why they're not instancing), and over 78 for the Furs of Color display, which needs LODs to combine materials.
November 9, 2025 at 11:24 PM
Before optimization the draw calls were over 650. Now it's 479. That's a 26% improvement in the number of batches!
Over 230 batches are due to Textmesh Pro (need to figure out why they're not instancing), and over 78 for the Furs of Color display, which needs LODs to combine materials.
Over 230 batches are due to Textmesh Pro (need to figure out why they're not instancing), and over 78 for the Furs of Color display, which needs LODs to combine materials.
We had quite a few presenters last night as well. Thank you all for coming!
If you attended the event last night, please keep reading for an update on the moderation issue.
If you attended the event last night, please keep reading for an update on the moderation issue.
November 3, 2025 at 6:12 PM
We had quite a few presenters last night as well. Thank you all for coming!
If you attended the event last night, please keep reading for an update on the moderation issue.
If you attended the event last night, please keep reading for an update on the moderation issue.
Thank you for attending the Día de Muertos/Furry Family Ofrenda presentation last night.
There will be another presentation tonight! Please be respectful and courteous as we gather together to honor the fallen.
vrchat.com/home/group/g...
There will be another presentation tonight! Please be respectful and courteous as we gather together to honor the fallen.
vrchat.com/home/group/g...
November 2, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Thank you for attending the Día de Muertos/Furry Family Ofrenda presentation last night.
There will be another presentation tonight! Please be respectful and courteous as we gather together to honor the fallen.
vrchat.com/home/group/g...
There will be another presentation tonight! Please be respectful and courteous as we gather together to honor the fallen.
vrchat.com/home/group/g...
Thank you for an awesome night at Icon 2.0! I got a lot of feedback last night, and fixed some issues this morning. Many things that can be improved upon in the next iteration. Here's to making the next release even better!
October 25, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Thank you for an awesome night at Icon 2.0! I got a lot of feedback last night, and fixed some issues this morning. Many things that can be improved upon in the next iteration. Here's to making the next release even better!
Hey everyone - I was team lead for Magic Land on our new club world Icon 2.0! We've reimagined a real 1980s NYC nightclub - The Saint. Doors open 7:30pm EDT, we have DJs running through the morning. But I won't spoil too much! Let me describe, in words, the greatest night club to ever exist.
October 24, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Hey everyone - I was team lead for Magic Land on our new club world Icon 2.0! We've reimagined a real 1980s NYC nightclub - The Saint. Doors open 7:30pm EDT, we have DJs running through the morning. But I won't spoil too much! Let me describe, in words, the greatest night club to ever exist.
Tygre's stream gets removed... but this bullshit bullying gets permitted? It takes no effort to be kind and no effort to leave. People who waste their energy on hatred will never amount to anything. Bullies have always been a blight on humanity, and history will always remember them that way.
October 16, 2025 at 12:22 AM
Tygre's stream gets removed... but this bullshit bullying gets permitted? It takes no effort to be kind and no effort to leave. People who waste their energy on hatred will never amount to anything. Bullies have always been a blight on humanity, and history will always remember them that way.
Today, she answered many questions, and just chat with the community. Many new people who found her are coming to terms with their identity. If the internet gets any more "conservative," minorities will always get hurt, despite the incredible good they do for so many people.
October 16, 2025 at 12:22 AM
Today, she answered many questions, and just chat with the community. Many new people who found her are coming to terms with their identity. If the internet gets any more "conservative," minorities will always get hurt, despite the incredible good they do for so many people.
Tygre's stream was incredible. Yesterday she sang Billy Joel's So It Goes, climbed to the top of the ranked leaderboards in Geoguessr, and nailed a 5K the moment the front page promotion ended. Many people are learning about the Fandom through our popular streamers, and her outreach empowered many.
October 16, 2025 at 12:22 AM
Tygre's stream was incredible. Yesterday she sang Billy Joel's So It Goes, climbed to the top of the ranked leaderboards in Geoguessr, and nailed a 5K the moment the front page promotion ended. Many people are learning about the Fandom through our popular streamers, and her outreach empowered many.
This is not OK. After an astonishing stream on Twitch's front page yesterday, haters raided @tygre.baby today and mass reported her channel to get it removed. Nothing lewd on it at all.
We know haters are the scourge of the internet. Can platforms shut down the hate, please? THEY ARE THE PROBLEM.
We know haters are the scourge of the internet. Can platforms shut down the hate, please? THEY ARE THE PROBLEM.
October 16, 2025 at 12:22 AM
This is not OK. After an astonishing stream on Twitch's front page yesterday, haters raided @tygre.baby today and mass reported her channel to get it removed. Nothing lewd on it at all.
We know haters are the scourge of the internet. Can platforms shut down the hate, please? THEY ARE THE PROBLEM.
We know haters are the scourge of the internet. Can platforms shut down the hate, please? THEY ARE THE PROBLEM.
And finally, the quality for this ancient Roman model has significantly improved! Some better UVs around the model made sure of that!
October 5, 2025 at 4:39 PM
And finally, the quality for this ancient Roman model has significantly improved! Some better UVs around the model made sure of that!
More optimizations are always taking place! Kiaun's canvas panels are now merged to a single atlased object, texture, and material, reducing draw calls!
October 5, 2025 at 4:39 PM
More optimizations are always taking place! Kiaun's canvas panels are now merged to a single atlased object, texture, and material, reducing draw calls!
The trigger optimizations for mirrors is constantly improving. This is the biggest performance sink in the world, so optimizations here are sure to help everyone. If you detect an issue, please narrow down the steps to reproduce and let me know!
October 5, 2025 at 4:39 PM
The trigger optimizations for mirrors is constantly improving. This is the biggest performance sink in the world, so optimizations here are sure to help everyone. If you detect an issue, please narrow down the steps to reproduce and let me know!
A detailed writeup on the cost of games and U.S. inflation information from December 1982 have been added. Some naysayers like to pretend it wasn't the high cost and low quality of games that lead to the Market Crash of 1983, so this information provides much better context to secure history.
October 5, 2025 at 4:39 PM
A detailed writeup on the cost of games and U.S. inflation information from December 1982 have been added. Some naysayers like to pretend it wasn't the high cost and low quality of games that lead to the Market Crash of 1983, so this information provides much better context to secure history.