With summer just around the corner, the deals are hot this Memorial Day weekend. Just about every online retailer has dropped deep discounts on a range of products for the holiday. While the sales may not be as great as Black Friday and Prime Day, it’s still a great time to save on everything to prepare for the warm months ahead. Summer essentials aren’t the only discounted items either, with everything from TVs and mattresses to PCs and gaming essentials getting in on the action. TL;DR: Deals for TodayLowest Price EverApple iPad (A16) 128GBLG 65-Inch OLED evo C4Lowest Price EverSonos Move 2Blink Outdoor 4Tufons 4-Burner Propane Gas BBQAlienware Aurora R16 Intel Core Ultra 7 265F RTX 5080 Gaming PC (16GB/1TB)$2,349.99 at DellPersona 5 Royal Standard Edition for SwitchTraeger Grills Pro Series 34 Pellet Grill and SmokerThis might not be a deal, but if you missed out on the first Magic: The Gathering Final Fantasy pre-orders, you’re in luck, as you can still grab the bundle and starter kit. Individual cards are also up for pre-order, ensuring you can lock down your favorites before the drop in June. 2025 Apple iPad (A16)Lowest Price EverApple iPad (A16) 128GBThe new iPad is back down to its lowest price ever. Apple released the latest 11-inch iPad in March, and $50 has already been knocked off the price tag for the holiday weekend. The newest model got a few upgrades over its predecessor. Most notably, the tablet now runs on an A16 processor for a snappy experience performing everyday tasks, and base storage has been doubled to 128 GB. But even with these improvements, Apple didn’t increase the starting price from the 10th-generation iPad, making it just $349 to start. Apple iPad Air 13" (M3) 128GBApple iPad Mini (A17 Pro) 128GBApple iPad Air 11" (M3) 128GBSilverApple iPad (A16) 128GBPinkApple iPad (A16) 128GBYellowApple iPad (A16) 128GBWhile the classic iPad is the best iPad for most people, many of Apple’s other latest tablets have similar discounts for the holiday weekend. Our favorite iPad for students, the iPad Air (M3), which also came out in March, has up to $100 off, while the latest iPad mini has a similar deal, making it 20% off. Sonos Move 2Lowest Price EverSonos Move 2Sonos is synonymous with creating high-quality, great-sounding speakers, and one of its portable Bluetooth offerings, the Move 2, is at its lowest price ever. Enjoy over 25% savings on a speaker ready to pump out crystal clear vocals and deep booming bass. Trueplay tuning even allows the speaker to optimize sound to the environment for the best listening experience every time. With a 24-hour battery life and built-in handle, it’s also the perfect option to enjoy your favorite music just about anywhere. Lowest Price EverBeats PillSee it at WalmartJBL Go 4JBL Clip 5Sony ULT Field 5Sonos isn’t the only audio giant getting in on the Memorial Day sales. Plenty of other portable speakers are discounted, ensuring you can take your favorite songs on camping trips, picnics, and more. Grill DealsTufons 4-Burner Propane Gas BBQSummer means it’s grilling season, so if your old BBQ is rusted out or broken, now’s the time to buy a new one. Tufons has a high-quality 4-burner grill that is 27% off on Amazon. It will cost just $299.99 for a 457 sq. in cooking area with a total of 46,500 BTU cooking power on the 4 main burners and one side burner. The stainless steel body and cast iron grate are built to last, so this grill should be with you for the long haul. Traeger Grills Pro Series 34 Pellet Grill and SmokerSophia & William Propane Gas Grill and Griddle ComboChar-Broil Portable Convective 1-Burner Stainless Steel Propane Gas GrillFlash DealShinpt 44" Charcoal Smoker Grill Tufons isn’t the only grill discounted, as plenty of other BBQs are seeing deep discounts for Memorial Day. Everything from charcoal grills and pellet smokers to massive cooktops and portable BBQs are all on sale. Blink Outdoor 4Blink Outdoor 4Adding a few security cameras to your home is never a bad idea. Whether you want to keep porch pirates at bay or check on your pup at work, these gadgets can be super useful. Right now, Blink has a great deal on the Blink Outdoor 4 with a 3-pack of wireless cameras costing just 129.99 – the lowest price we’ve seen this year. These cameras are capable of capturing 1080p HD live view and have infrared night vision for 24/7 monitoring. Motion sensing can deliver alerts right to your smartphone, while the 2-year battery life means you’ll rarely need to worry about swapping the AA batteries.Alienware Aurora R16 Intel Core Ultra 7 265F RTX 5080Alienware Aurora R16 Intel Core Ultra 7 265F RTX 5080 Gaming PC (16GB/1TB)$2,349.99 at DellIf you're looking to grab a gaming rig with the latest RTX 5080 GPU, Dell has dropped a great deal on some PCs for Memorial Day. You get this ultra-powerful pre-built PC capable of epic 4K gaming at high frame rates for only $2,349.99. It’s an absolute steal, especially considering the going rate for an RTX 5080 when DIYing a PC is marked up exponentially right now. That’s not the only PC on sale. Below are some other great PCs and gaming laptops on sale for the holiday weekend: Alienware Aurora R16 Intel Core Ultra 9 285K RTX 5080 Gaming PC (32GB/2TB)New ReleaseAlienware Area-51 Intel Core Ultra 9 285K RTX 5090 Gaming PC (32GB/2TB)Alienware Aurora R16 Intel Core Ultra 7 265F RTX 5070 Gaming PC$1,849.99 at AlienwareAlienware Aurora R16 Intel Core Ultra 9 285KF RTX 5070 Gaming PC (32GB/2TB)New for 2025Alienware Area-51 Intel Core Ultra 7 265 RTX 5080 Gaming PC (32GB/1TB)Alienware Aurora R16 Intel Core Ultra 9 285K RTX 5080 Gaming PC (64GB/2TB)Dell XPS Intel Core i7-14700 RTX 4060 Ti Gaming PCAlienware Aurora R16 Intel Core Ultra 9 285K RTX 5080 Gaming PC (64GB/4TB)New Dell Tower Plus Intel Core Ultra 7 265 RTX 4070 Ti Super Gaming PC$1,649.99 at DellAlienware Aurora R16 i7-14700F RTX 4070 Super Gaming PC$1,899.99 at AlienwareNew ReleaseAlienware 18 Area-51 Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX RTX 5080 Gaming Laptop (32GB/2TB)Alienware 18 Area-51 Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX RTX 5090 Gaming Laptop (64GB/2TB)Alienware x16 R2 16" Intel Core Ultra 7 155H RTX 4060 Gaming Laptop (16GB/1TB)Alienware x16 R2 16" Intel Core Ultra 9 185H RTX 4070 Gaming Laptop (32GB/1TB)LG 65-Inch OLED evo C4LG 65-Inch OLED evo C4The LG 65-Inch OLED evo C4 is at one of its best prices ever today. If you’re looking for an absolutely great gaming TV, this OLED display is impeccable. It offers a stunning 4K picture and up to a 144Hz refresh rate with VRR baked in for butter-smooth action. Right now, you can grab that stunning picture for $1,246.99. That’s over 50% off the list price of the TV when it came out in 2024. 50" Vizio V4K50M 4K Smart TV55" Insignia F30 4K Fire TV75" TCL Q7 4K QLED Google TV58" Hisense R6 4K Roku TVPlenty of other TVs are discounted for Memorial Day. Whether you’re after something a little more budget-friendly or want the latest and greatest option, there’s a TV deal to suit your needs. Persona 5 Royal Standard Edition for SwitchPersona 5 Royal Standard Edition for SwitchThe Persona 5 Royal Standard Edition has gotten a serious price cut. It’s down to $25 from $60. Talk about a steal for this epic RPG full of sick locations, captivating stories, and great gameplay mechanics. With the Royal edition comes a new semester at Shujin Academy for more story arcs and even some alternate endings. Be sure to grab this deal while it lasts. Other great Memorial Day game deals are happening right now, including dozens of games on sale for $15 at GameStop. $15 and $30 Game Sale at GameStopSee it at GameStopSuper Mario RPG (Switch)Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade (PS5)Kingdom Come: Deliverance II (PS5, XSX)Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 (PS5, XSX)Dragon Age: The Veilguard- Deluxe Edition (PS5, XSX)Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake (PS5, XSX, Switch)Silent Hill 2 (PS5)Sid Meier's Civilization VII (PS5, XSX, Switch)Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition (Switch)Final Fantasy XVI (PS5)Star Wars Jedi Survivor (PS5, XSX)Diablo IV (Xbox)Star Wars Outlaws - Limited Edition (XSX)Suikoden I & II HD Remastered (PS5, XSX, Switch)Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol.1 (PS5, Switch)Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III (PS5)Mattress SalesUp to 35% off mattressesCasper Mattress SaleSee it at CasperSerta 10-in Medium King Hybrid Memory Foam/Coil Blend MattressUp to 50% of mattressesSleep Number Memorial Day SaleSee it at Sleep NumberSave 20% on mattressesTuft & Needle Memorial Day SaleSee it at Tuft & Needle$1,500 off and additional $100 off with a discount codePlushBeds Memorial Day SaleSee it at PlushBedsCasper The OneSleep Number i8Serta Perfect Sleeper Nurture Night 12-in Firm Queen Innerspring Mattress

LLMs have shown impressive capabilities across various programming tasks, yet their potential for program optimization has not been fully explored. While some recent efforts have used LLMs to enhance performance in languages like C++ and Python, the broader application of LLMs to optimize code, especially in low-level programming contexts, remains limited. Existing LLM benchmarks largely focus on code generation from natural language or solving GitHub issues, as seen in HumanEval, MBPP, APPS, SWE-bench, and SWE-agent. Moreover, models such as Codex, AlphaCode, and Code Llama primarily aim to improve code generation quality rather than performance. However, select research has begun addressing optimization, including parallelization and code efficiency improvements, though many of these approaches are constrained by the need for formal verification, limiting scalability. In contrast, some newer methods embrace test-based validation, allowing optimization of more complex programs with loops. Learning-based strategies in compiler optimization—like AutoPhase, which uses reinforcement learning for pass sequencing, and Coreset, which applies graph neural networks—have shown promise in improving performance. Superoptimization techniques aim to find the most efficient version of a program but are typically restricted to small-scale problems. Additionally, frameworks like AutoTVM and Ansor have focused on optimizing GPU kernel code through statistical modeling and search. Recently, LLM-driven optimization has gained attention, with reinforcement learning approaches guiding LLMs using feedback from test cases. Techniques like CodeRL and PPOCoder leverage policy optimization methods to fine-tune models for better performance, even across resource-constrained programming languages like Verilog.  Stanford, UIUC, CMU, and Visa Research researchers explore using LLMs to optimize assembly code performance—an area traditionally handled by compilers like GCC. They introduce a reinforcement learning framework using Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO), guided by a reward balancing correctness and speedup over the gcc -O3 baseline. Using a dataset of 8,072 real-world programs, their model, Qwen2.5-Coder-7B-PPO, achieves a 96.0% test pass rate and a 1.47× average speedup, outperforming 20 other models, including Claude-3.7-sonnet. Their results show that with RL training, LLMs can effectively outperform conventional compiler optimizations.  The methodology involves optimizing compiled C programs for performance using an RL approach. Given a C program C, it is compiled to assembly P using gcc -O3. The goal is to generate a new assembly program P’ that is functionally equivalent but faster. Correctness is verified using a test set, and speedup is measured by execution time improvement. Using CodeNet as the dataset, the authors apply PPO to train a language model that generates improved code. Two reward functions—Correctness-Guided Speedup and Speedup-Only—are used to guide training based on program validity, correctness, and performance gains.  The study evaluates various language models on optimizing assembly code, revealing that most models struggle with low test pass rates and minimal speedups. However, Qwen2.5-Coder-7B-PPO, trained with reinforcement learning, significantly outperforms others, achieving 96% accuracy and a 1.47× average speedup. Ablation studies show that using gcc -O3 as a reference aids performance, while removing it leads to sharp declines. Notably, models like Claude-3.7-sonnet can surpass compilers by identifying hardware-specific optimizations, such as replacing loops with a single popcnt instruction, demonstrating their ability to perform semantic-level code transformations beyond traditional compiler capabilities.  In conclusion, the study explores using LLMs to optimize assembly code, a domain where traditional compilers struggle due to the complexity of low-level performance tuning. The authors fine-tune Qwen2.5-Coder-7B using PPO, rewarding both correctness (via test cases) and speedup over gcc -O3. They introduce a benchmark of 8,072 real-world C programs to evaluate performance. The model achieves a 96.0% test pass rate and a 1.47× average speedup, outperforming 20 other models, including Claude-3.7-sonnet. While effective, limitations include a lack of formal correctness guarantees and variability in hardware performance across systems.  Check out the Paper. All credit for this research goes to the researchers of this project. Also, feel free to follow us on Twitter and don’t forget to join our 95k+ ML SubReddit and Subscribe to our Newsletter. Sana HassanSana Hassan, a consulting intern at Marktechpost and dual-degree student at IIT Madras, is passionate about applying technology and AI to address real-world challenges. With a keen interest in solving practical problems, he brings a fresh perspective to the intersection of AI and real-life solutions.Sana Hassanhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sana-hassan/Evaluating Enterprise-Grade AI Assistants: A Benchmark for Complex, Voice-Driven WorkflowsSana Hassanhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sana-hassan/Beyond Aha Moments: Structuring Reasoning in Large Language ModelsSana Hassanhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sana-hassan/RXTX: A Machine Learning-Guided Algorithm for Efficient Structured Matrix MultiplicationSana Hassanhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sana-hassan/From Protocol to Production: How Model Context Protocol (MCP) Gateways Enable Secure, Scalable, and Seamless AI Integrations Across Enterprises

In brief: Valve has moved forward with its long-teased plan to bring SteamOS to more devices beyond the Steam Deck. The stable build adds support for systems from Lenovo, Asus, and others, offering a more stable Windows alternative for handheld gaming PCs. It also introduces new features and bug fixes. Now available for installation, SteamOS 3.7.8 introduces official support for the Lenovo Legion Go S and improves compatibility with other handheld gaming PCs, including the Asus ROG Ally. The release could dramatically alter the user experience on these devices. SteamOS's gamepad-friendly interface is better suited to small screens than Windows 11, giving the Steam Deck a notable edge over more powerful portable PCs. Recent updates to the Linux-based system have gradually revealed Valve's broader release plans, with the latest patch opening it up for public testing. The operating system now uses a newer Arch Linux base, the Linux kernel has been upgraded to version 6.11, and desktop mode runs on Plasma 6.2.5. Early adopters should download a SteamOS recovery image and follow Valve's setup instructions. Valve optimized 3.7.8 specifically for handheld devices, but it currently supports only PCs with AMD hardware and an NVMe SSD. The system requirements likely cover devices built on similar AMD APUs, including the Ryzen 8840U, Ryzen AI HX 370, Ryzen Z1, and Ryzen Z2. Valve provides specific installation instructions for the original Lenovo Legion Go and the ROG Ally. However, the latest build should theoretically support handhelds such as the GPD Win, Ayaneo 3, and Zotac Zone. The Intel-powered MSI Claw remains the only unsupported portable PC, and whether Valve plans to add Intel support is still unclear. Adventurous testers will likely explore whether "AMD hardware" extends to desktops or other Ryzen-based form factors. It remains unclear if SteamOS supports Radeon dedicated GPUs and alternative wireless chips. The update has a useful new feature that lets users set a battery charge limit, with Valve recommending an 80 percent cap to extend battery life on frequently docked devices. It is functionally similar to the optional 90 percent cap Nintendo recently introduced for the upcoming Switch 2. SteamOS 3.7.8 also adds frame rate limits for internal and external VRR displays, while Bluetooth controllers can now wake the original LCD Steam Deck from sleep. As the first version 3.7 build to reach the stable channel, numerous features have also exited beta. Lenovo plans to launch the Legion Go S with SteamOS pre-installed in the coming weeks, offering it at a significantly lower price than the Windows 11 version. // Related Stories

Apple @ Work is exclusively brought to you by Mosyle, the only Apple Unified Platform. Mosyle is the only solution that integrates in a single professional-grade platform all the solutions necessary to seamlessly and automatically deploy, manage & protect Apple devices at work. Over 45,000 organizations trust Mosyle to make millions of Apple devices work-ready with no effort and at an affordable cost. Request your EXTENDED TRIAL today and understand why Mosyle is everything you need to work with Apple. There’s a lot of hype around AI right now. Every product is “AI-powered” and every app promises to help you do more by doing the work for you. However, I think that real productivity improvements don’t come with bolted-on functionality. They come from building smarter tools that live where people already work and letting them focus on what humans do best. That’s why I think Spike’s new AI Feed is a solid example of workplace AI done right. About Apple @ Work: Bradley Chambers managed an enterprise IT network from 2009 to 2021. Through his experience deploying and managing firewalls, switches, a mobile device management system, enterprise grade Wi-Fi, thousands of Macs, and thousands of iPads, Bradley will highlight ways in which Apple IT managers deploy Apple devices, build networks to support them, train users, stories from the trenches of IT management, and ways Apple could improve its products for IT departments. I’ve been using Spike as an email client for nearly 5 years now. I feel like they’re onto something with their new AI Feed, which I want to see more of from Apple and Apple Intelligence. Spike didn’t build a separate assistant. They didn’t launch a chatbot. They added AI to the most-used part of your workday: your email inbox. The AI Feed lives inside your inbox, wrapping AI functionality into every aspect. It does it in a way that’s much better than anything I’ve seen from Apple Intelligence. That’s the direction I want Apple Intelligence to go. I want it to become my trusted advisor on how I spend my time and what I focus on vs just trying to create content for me. One of the features I have liked using most, Spike’s AI Feed, is how fast it helps you power your inbox when coming back after a long period. It summarizes messages and helps you take action as well. You can archive, delete, or mark messages as read without opening a single email. It aims to surface what matters and helps you clear away everything else. For me, that’s a huge time saver when you’re coming back to a long email with many back-and-forth responses or catching up with your inbox after a marathon of Zoom meetings. You get the context and take action right away. Right now, Apple Intelligence feels like something added on top of the macOS and iOS designed to help you write, not built into your workflows. It’s not that it’s completely unusable, but it doesn’t quite work the way my brain does. I don’t need Mail.app to write messages for me. I need it to look at my calendar, my reminders, and my inbox, and help me structure my day before I even ask. I don’t need help writing emails that sound like AI wrote them. I need help getting the key context that helps me reply in my own tone. A simple example for me is someone working in tech support. AI shouldn’t write a response. It should combine what the customer said, their problem, what they said before, and what we did last time. AI should flag when my day is packed and automatically block time to finish actual work. It should surface what matters, not create more noise, or help me write 500 words. Wrap up: What’s next for Apple Intelligence? I can’t help but feel that Apple Intelligence was designed as Apple was caught flat-footed on AI. macOS and iOS need to be completely optimized for AI. It should feel as natural as copy and paste. Right now, it’s a bolt-on. What I envision is that Apple Intelligence is the interface. I unlock my Mac; a widget pops up with an alert about my day:Bradley, you have four meetings today, but I’ve looked at your to-do list, and you need to focus on some key items. I will reschedule two of your meetings that lack an agenda to another day when you’re less busy. Here are the documents you need to work on and decisions to make. I want a virtual assistant (something Siri has always promised to become) and less of a writing chatbot. Spike is getting closer with its AI inbox. It reminds me that the best workplace AI isn’t the one that tries to do your job. It’s the one that gives you more space to do it better. If the AI Feed is the starting point, I’m curious to see where Spike takes it next. The inbox is already a goldmine of context. It holds information about projects, decisions to make, tasks to work through, and much more. AI that understands that context is powerful. If Spike starts connecting that context to other tools like calendars, docs, or team chat, it becomes a control center for your day. That’s the kind of integration Apple Intelligence should be aiming for. Apple @ Work is exclusively brought to you by Mosyle, the only Apple Unified Platform. Mosyle is the only solution that integrates in a single professional-grade platform all the solutions necessary to seamlessly and automatically deploy, manage & protect Apple devices at work. Over 45,000 organizations trust Mosyle to make millions of Apple devices work-ready with no effort and at an affordable cost. Request your EXTENDED TRIAL today and understand why Mosyle is everything you need to work with Apple. Add 9to5Mac to your Google News feed.  FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

If you have experience with object-oriented programming languages, then you’ve likely heard of the SOLID principles, MVP, singleton, factory, and observer patterns. Our new e-book highlights best practices for using these principles and patterns to create scalable game code architecture in your Unity project.For every software design issue you encounter, a thousand developers have been there before. Though you can’t always ask them directly for advice, you can learn from their decisions through design patterns.By implementing common, game programming design patterns in your Unity project, you can efficiently build and maintain a clean, organized, and readable codebase, which in turn, creates a solid foundation for scaling your game, development team, and business.In our community, we often hear that it can be intimidating to learn how to incorporate design patterns and principles, such as SOLID and KISS, into daily development. That’s why our free e-book, Level up your code with game programming patterns, explains well-known design patterns and shares practical examples for using them in your Unity project.Written by internal and external Unity experts, the e-book is a resource that can help expand your developer’s toolbox and accelerate your project’s success. Read on for a preview of what the guide entails.Design patterns are general solutions to common problems found in software engineering. These aren’t finished solutions you can copy and paste into your code, but extra tools that can help you build larger, scalable applications when used correctly.By integrating patterns consistently into your project, you can improve code readability and make your codebase cleaner. Design patterns not only reduce refactoring and the time spent testing, they speed up onboarding and development processes.However, every design pattern comes with tradeoffs, whether that means additional structures to maintain or more setup at the beginning. You’ll need to do a cost-benefit assessment to determine if the advantage justifies the extra work required. Of course, this assessment will vary based on your project.KISS stands for “keep it simple, stupid.” The aim of this principle is to avoid unnecessary complexity in a system, as simplicity helps drive greater levels of user acceptance and interaction.Note that “simple” does not equate to “easy.” Making something simple means making it focused. While you can create the same functionality without the patterns (and often more quickly), something fast and easy doesn’t necessarily result in something simple.If you’re unsure whether a pattern applies to your particular issue, you might hold off until it feels like a more natural fit. Don’t use a pattern because it’s new or novel to you. Use it when you need it.It’s in this spirit that the e-book was created. Keep the guide handy as a source of inspiration for new ways of organizing your code – not as a strict set of rules for you to follow.Now, let’s turn to some of the key software design principles.SOLID is a mnemonic acronym for five core fundamentals of software design. You can think of them as five basic rules to keep in mind while coding, to ensure that object-oriented designs remain flexible and maintainable.The SOLID principles were first introduced by Robert C. Martin in the paper, Design Principles and Design Patterns. First published in 2000, the principles described are still applicable today, and to C# scripting in Unity:Single responsibility states that each module, class, or function is responsible for one thing and encapsulates only that part of the logic.Open-closed states that classes must be open for extension but closed for modification; that means structuring your classes to create new behavior without modifying the original code.Liskov substitution states that derived classes must be substitutable for their base class when using inheritance.Interface segregation states that no client should be forced to depend on methods it does not use. Clients should only implement what they need.Dependency inversion states that high-level modules should not import anything directly from low-level modules. Both should depend on abstractions.In the e-book, we provide illustrated examples of each principle with clear explanations for using them in Unity. In some cases, adhering to SOLID can result in additional work up front. You may need to refactor some of your functionality into abstractions or interfaces, but there is often a payoff in long-term savings.The principles have dominated software design for nearly two decades at the enterprise level because they’re so well-suited to large applications that scale. If you’re unsure about how to use them, refer back to the KISS principle. Keep it simple, and don’t try to force the principles into your scripts just for the sake of doing so. Let them organically work themselves into place through necessity.If you’re interested in learning more, check out the SOLID presentation from Unite Austin 2017 by Dan Sagmiller of Productive Edge.What’s the difference between a design principle and a design pattern? One way to answer that question is to consider SOLID as a framework for, or a foundational approach to, writing object-oriented code. While design patterns are solutions or tools you can implement to avoid everyday software problems, remember that they’re not off-the-shelf recipes – or for that matter, algorithms with specific steps for achieving specific results.A design pattern can be thought of as a blueprint. It’s a general plan that leaves the actual construction up to you. For instance, two programs can follow the same pattern but involve very different code.When developers encounter the same problem in the wild, many of them will inevitably come up with similar solutions. Once a solution is repeated enough times, someone might “discover” a pattern and formally give it a name.Many of today’s software design patterns stem from the seminal work, Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software by Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, and John Vlissides. This book unpacks 23 such patterns identified in a variety of day-to-day applications.The original authors are often referred to as the “Gang of Four” (GoF),and you’ll also hear the original patterns dubbed the GoF patterns. While the examples cited are mostly in C++ (and Smalltalk), you can apply their ideas to any object-oriented language, such as C#.Since the Gang of Four originally published Design Patterns in 1994, developers have since established dozens more object-oriented patterns in a variety of fields, including game development.While you can work as a game programmer without studying design patterns, learning them will help you become a better developer. After all, design patterns are labeled as such because they’re common solutions to well-known problems.Software engineers rediscover them all the time in the normal course of development. You may have already implemented some of these patterns unwittingly.Train yourself to look for them. Doing this can help you:Learn object-oriented programming: Design patterns aren’t secrets buried in an esoteric StackOverflow post. They are common ways to overcome everyday hurdles in development. They can inform you of how many other developers have approached the same issue – remember, even if you’re not using patterns, someone else is.Talk to other developers: Patterns can serve as a shorthand when trying to communicate as a team. Mention the “command pattern” or “object pool” and experienced Unity developers will know what you’re trying to implement.Explore new frameworks:When you import a built-in package or something from the Asset Store, inevitably you’ll stumble onto one or more patterns discussed here. Recognizing design patterns will help you understand how a new framework operates, as well as the thought process involved in its creation.As indicated earlier, not all design patterns apply to every game application. Don’t go looking for them with Maslow’s hammer; otherwise, you might only find nails.Like any other tool, a design pattern’s usefulness depends on context. Each one provides a benefit in certain situations and also comes with its share of drawbacks. Every decision in software development comes with compromises.Are you generating a lot of GameObjects on the fly? Does it impact your performance? Can restructuring your code fix that? Be aware of these design patterns, and when the time is right, pull them from your gamedev bag of tricks to solve the problem at hand.In addition to the Gang of Four’s Design Patterns, Game Programming Patterns by Robert Nystrom is another standout resource, currently available for free as a web-based edition. The author details a variety of software patterns in a no-nonsense manner.In our new e-book, you can dive into the sections that explain common design patterns, such as factory, object pool, singleton, command, state, and observer patterns, plus the Model View Presenter (MVP), among others. Each section explains the pattern along with its pros and cons, and provides an example of how to implement it in Unity so you can optimize its usage in your project.Unity already implements several established gamedev patterns, saving you the trouble of writing them yourself. These include:Game loop: At the core of all games is an infinite loop that must function independently of clock speed, since the hardware that powers a game application can vary greatly. To account for computers of different speeds, game developers often need to use a fixed timestep (with a set frames-per-second) and a variable timestep where the engine measures how much time has passed since the previous frame. Unity takes care of this, so you don’t have to implement it yourself. You only need to manage gameplay using MonoBehaviour methods like Update, LateUpdate, and FixedUpdate. Update: In your game application, you’ll often update each object’s behavior one frame at a time. While you can manually recreate this in Unity, the MonoBehaviour class does this automatically. Use the appropriate Update, LateUpdate, or FixedUpdate methods to modify your GameObjects and components to one tick of the game clock.Prototype: Often you need to copy objects without affecting the original. This creational pattern solves the problem of duplicating and cloning an object to make other objects similar to itself. This way you avoid defining a separate class to spawn every type of object in your game. Unity’s Prefab system implements a form of prototyping for GameObjects. This allows you to duplicate a template object complete with its components. Override specific properties to create Prefab Variants or nest Prefabs inside other Prefabs to create hierarchies. Use a special Prefab editing mode to edit Prefabs in isolation or in context. Component:Most people working in Unity know this pattern. Instead of creating large classes with multiple responsibilities, build smaller components that each do one thing. If you use composition to pick and choose components, you can combine them for complex behavior. Add Rigidbody and Collider components for physics, or a MeshFilter and MeshRenderer for 3D geometry. Each GameObject is only as rich and unique as its collection of components.Both the e-book and a sample project on the use of design patterns are available now to download for free. Review the examples and decide which design pattern best suits your project. As you gain experience with them, you’ll recognize how and when they can enhance your development process. As always, we encourage you to visit the forum thread and let us know what you think of the e-book and sample.

Fabric8Labs, a San Diego-based manufacturer specializing in Electrochemical Additive Manufacturing (ECAM), has been selected by AEWIN Technologies to supply thermal management components for its next generation of Edge AI systems. AEWIN, a provider of high-performance network platforms and a member of the Qisda Business Group, will integrate ECAM-produced copper components into its upcoming cooling infrastructure. The partnership addresses increasing thermal challenges in high-density computing environments. Fabric8Labs’ ECAM process enables the additive manufacturing of pure copper structures with high geometric resolution. AEWIN is deploying ECAM-based 3D micro-mesh boiler plates that increase heat exchanger surface area by over 900% and provide thermal improvements greater than 1.3 °C per 100W compared to leading conventional alternatives. “Our collaboration with AEWIN represents a significant step forward toward the future of thermal management. We are thrilled to support AEWIN by enabling them to achieve their sustainability targets and meet the growing power demands of advanced AI accelerators,” said Ian Winfield, Vice President of Product & Applications at Fabric8Labs. ECAM enables high-resolution, customized designs. Photo via Fabric8Labs. AEWIN’s system-level designs are optimized for both PFAS and PFAS-free coolants, supporting various two-phase immersion cooling methodologies. According to Dr. Liu, Director of the Advanced Technical Development Division at AEWIN Technologies, “The exponential growth of data and Edge AI complexity requires the most advanced on-premises computing. Through our advanced system-level design, we are able to leverage Fabric8Labs’ ECAM technology to optimize solutions for high efficiency, power usage effectiveness, and reduced total cost of ownership.” The ECAM manufacturing platform enables the production of 3D cooling structures without requiring powder beds or laser-based processes. Fabric8Labs’ approach allows for the fabrication of complex copper geometries suitable for thermal management applications, including capillary network designs that enhance coolant flow at the boiling interface. AEWIN reports that the use of these ECAM-enabled boiler plates supports achieving Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) below 1.02. Founded in 2015, Fabric8Labs develops ECAM systems for electronics, medical devices, communications equipment, and semiconductor manufacturing. Its technology is designed to support dense thermal architectures in data centers and Edge AI infrastructure. The additive process is capable of producing detailed structures with reduced material waste compared to conventional subtractive or powder-based methods. AEWIN will exhibit its advanced immersion cooling platform utilizing ECAM-enabled thermal components at Computex 2025, Booth No. M0120. 3D Printed Thermal Components Expand Across Sectors Donkervoort Automobielen, a Dutch supercar manufacturer, recently partnered with Australia-based Conflux Technology to integrate 3D printed water-charge air coolers (WCAC) into its P24 RS model. Using aluminum alloys and tailored fin geometries, the Conflux-designed WCAC units reduce weight from 16 kg to just 1.4 kg per cooler. By relocating the system into the engine bay and shortening the inlet tract, the new thermal architecture enhances throttle response and packaging efficiency. The additively manufactured design, inspired by Formula 1 cooling technology, was adapted for a road-legal vehicle. In another recent example, Alloy Enterprises developed a high-efficiency cold plate for NVIDIA’s H100 PCIe card, addressing power density challenges in advanced computing. The component was fabricated from 6061 aluminum using the company’s proprietary Stack Forging process. It features 180-micron microcapillaries, gyroid infill, and monolithic inlet/outlet channels—all optimized using nTop’s generative design software. With a final weight under 550 grams, the liquid cold plate delivers targeted cooling through simulation-derived internal structures. The 3D printed aluminum cold plate. Photo via nTop. Ready to discover who won the 20243D Printing Industry Awards? Subscribe to the 3D Printing Industry newsletter to stay updated with the latest news and insights. Take the 3DPI Reader Survey — shape the future of AM reporting in under 5 minutes. Featured photo shows ECAM enables high-resolution, customized designs. Photo via Fabric8Labs. Anyer Tenorio Lara Anyer Tenorio Lara is an emerging tech journalist passionate about uncovering the latest advances in technology and innovation. With a sharp eye for detail and a talent for storytelling, Anyer has quickly made a name for himself in the tech community. Anyer's articles aim to make complex subjects accessible and engaging for a broad audience. In addition to his writing, Anyer enjoys participating in industry events and discussions, eager to learn and share knowledge in the dynamic world of technology.

Submitted by WA Contents Call For Ideas: Tiny Library 2025 Architecture Competition India Architecture News - May 24, 2025 - 09:35   html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd" As the world is continuously transforming and expanding, the amount of data and information created every day is also increasing constantly. Human intellect today is expected to evolve at the same rate as our world to continue our journey into the future. Despite all the information, reading and self-learning remain the most powerful tools available to mankind to consume knowledge. Learning bolsters awareness, exposure and productivity, which in turn results into development.Despite its importance, education is still inaccessible to many communities in remote locations around the world. Self-learning, especially through reading, is crucial for the society’s development. It is necessary to have places promoting education and self- learning to educate the local population within the closest proximity. It will make them accessible to gainful employment opportunities in their home towns and will thereby avoid the need for migration elsewhere."Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." - Nelson Mandela (Political Leader, Philanthropist and former President of South Africa)."OpportunityBooks are considered to be the torchbearers for knowledge, helping mankind develop its intellect and create a world that is constantly developing. With an aim to make education more accessible, we have transformed books to digital, audio and visual formats.Despite all these efforts, books in any format are still inaccessible to various communities across our planet. It is now utterly important to focus on this lack of accessibility and prioritize towards creating a source of knowledge to isolated communities.Libraries as an educational incubator is a space that not only sheds light on conventional means of knowledge but also encourages its users to interact, share ideas and grow together. Rather than accepting urban migration as a given, a library can be designed with an aim to restore dignity and induce development.Can we rethink a library of the 21st-century public space where knowledge is not limited to books? Can we ignite the new age movement of learning?“A room without books is like a body without a soul.” - Marcus Tullius Cicero (Roman statesman and philosopher).ChallengeParticipants are to design a Tiny Library optimized for 50 users with engaging multifunctional spaces for all ages and spatial experience. The Tiny Library would be equipped with traditional reading material along with modern formats like e-books, audiobooks, audio-visual books etc.The space would be designed as a centralized think tank for the local communities with a focus on activities and functions of public interactions and community development.Participants should consider affordability and optimum use of space while designing. The designed space should be augmented to hold a maximum number of books in a limited space. The structure should not exceed 300 sq.mt. of built-up area.The proposed design should also be easy to maintain. The proposal should be iconic, inviting, and creating a statement of its own on the chosen site. The proposed design should have contact between humans and nature.The proposed designs can be visualized as mobile or stationary. One could also develop the given space as a flexible module that can be replicated so as to adapt to different site conditions, making it versatile in nature. Participants will be required to provide a justification for their design choices.The designed spaces should be innovative, encourage self-learning as well as strengthen the communal spirit. Energy saving and sustainability should be given a thought. We encourage the participants to develop their programs. The space designed should not be limited to the standard activities viz. reading and self-learning space, sanitation space, administration, reception or information desk. The design should provoke innovative activities that stimulate and accelerate learning.Site selectionRural populations across the globe face a mass exodus of its young population owing to the lack of education, health care, employment opportunities among many others.Participants are to choose a site in a rural or remote context for the proposal, wherever they feel accessibility to knowledge may change the existing circumstance. The design should be well integrated into the context.The site selected should be in a dire need of connecting to education and learning. The site should justify the participant’s design.AwardsPrizes of total USD 4500, broken down as follows:1st Prize: USD 2000 + Certificate + Publication2nd Prize: USD 1200 + Certificate + Publication3rd Prize: USD 800 + Certificate + Publication Student Award: USD 500 + Certificate + Publication10 Honourable mentions: CertificatesWinners and Honourable Mentions will be published on Volume Zero website and several international architecture and design magazines.To show our appreciation, all the participants would receive a participation certificate.ScheduleEarly Bird Registrations: 1st March 2025 to 15th May 2025 Standard Registrations: 16th May 2025 to 12th June 2025Last day for queries 10th June 2025Closing date for Submissions: 20th June 2025 Announcement of winners: 28th August 2025EligibilityTINY LIBRARY 2025 – Architecture Competition is open to all. We invite architects, students, engineers, product designers, thinkers, companies, organizations, and everyone interested in the mission of the competition to submit their ideas. No professional qualifications are necessary.Jury panelAvinash Ankalge A Threshold, IndiaBernardo Quinzaños CCA, MexicoChen Xi Atelier Xi, ChinaChenchen Hu HCCH Studio, ChinaDavid Barragán AL BORDE, EcuadorPetchimuthu Kennedy Earthscape Studio, IndiaPeter Rich Peter Rich Architects, South AfricaSong Yehao THAD SUP Atelier, ChinaSoumitro Ghosh Mathew and Ghosh Architects, IndiaSwapnil Valvatkar Collage Architecture Studio, IndiaRegistration feesEarly Bird Registrations:Participants from India – 2700+18% GST = INR 3186 (per team) Participants from Other Countries - 80 + 18% GST = USD 94.4 (per team)Standard Registrations:Participants from India – 3200 + 18% GST = INR 3776 (per team) Participants from Other Countries – 95+ 18% GST = USD 112.1 (per team)Download the competition brief from here: TL25 Brief.pdf.The top image courtesy of Volume Zero. > via Volume Zero 

On most of the projects I’ve seen, there are a lot of tasks developers go through that are repetitive and error-prone, especially when it comes to integrating new art assets. For instance, setting up a character often involves dragging and dropping many asset references, checking checkboxes, and clicking buttons: Set the rig of the model to Humanoid, disable the sRGB of the SDF texture, set the normal maps as normal maps, and the UI textures as sprites. In other words, valuable time is spent and crucial steps can still be missed.In this two-part article, I’ll walk you through hacks that can help improve this workflow so that your next project runs smoother than your last. To further illustrate this, I’ve created a simple prototype – similar to an RTS – where the units of one team automatically attack enemy buildings and other units. With each scripting hack, I’ll improve one aspect of this process, whether that be the textures or models.Here’s what the prototype looks like:The main reason developers have to set up so many small details when importing assets is simple: Unity doesn’t know how you are going to use an asset, so it can’t know what the best settings for it are. If you want to automate some of these tasks, this is the first problem that needs to be addressed.The simplest way to find out what an asset is for and how it relates to others is by sticking to a specific naming convention and folder structure, such as:Naming convention: We can append things to the name of the asset itself, therefore Shield_BC.png is the base color while Shield_N.png is the normal map.Folder structure: Knight/Animations/Walk.fbx is clearly an animation, while Knight/Models/Knight.fbx is a model, even though they both share the same format (.fbx).The issue with this is that it only works well in one direction. So while you might already know what an asset is for when given its path, you can’t deduce its path if only given information on what the asset does. Being able to find an asset – for example, the material for a character – is useful when trying to automate the setup for some aspects of the assets. While this can be solved by using a rigid naming convention to ensure that the path is easy to deduce, it’s still susceptible to error. Even if you remember the convention, typos are common.An interesting approach to solve this is by using labels. You can use an Editor script that parses the paths of assets and assigns them labels accordingly. As the labels are automated, it’s possible to figure out the exact label that an asset will have. You can even look up assets by their label using AssetDatabase.FindAssets.If you want to automate this sequence, there is a class that can be very handy called the AssetPostprocessor. The AssetPostprocessor receives various messages when Unity imports assets. One of those is OnPostprocessAllAssets, a method that’s called whenever Unity finishes importing assets. It will give you all the paths to the imported assets, providing an opportunity to process those paths. You can write a simple method, like the following, to process them:In the case of the prototype, let’s focus on the list of imported assets – both to try and catch new assets, as well as moved assets. After all, as the path changes, we might want to update the labels.To create the labels, parse the path and look for relevant folders, prefixes, and suffixes of the name, as well as the extensions. Once you have generated the labels, combine them into a single string and set them to the asset.To assign the labels, load the asset using AssetDatabase.LoadAssetAtPath, then assign its labels with AssetDatabase.SetLabels.Remember, it’s important to only set labels if they have actually changed. Setting labels will trigger a reimport of the asset, so you don’t want this to happen unless it’s strictly necessary.If you check this, then the reimport won’t be an issue: Labels are set the first time you import an asset and saved in the .meta file, which means they’re also saved in your version control. A reimport will only be triggered if you rename or move your assets.With the above steps complete, all assets are automatically labeled, as in the example pictured below.Importing textures into a project usually involves tweaking the settings for each texture. Is it a regular texture? A normal map? A sprite? Is it linear or sRGB? If you want to change the settings of an asset importer, you can use the AssetPostprocessor once more.In this case, you’ll want to use the OnPreprocessTexture message, which is called right before importing a texture. This allows you to change the settings of the importer.When it comes to selecting the right settings for every texture, you need to verify what type of textures you’re working with – which is exactly why labels are key in the first step.With this information, you can write a simple TexturePreprocessor:It’s important to ensure that you only run this for textures that have the art label (our own textures). You’ll then get a reference to the importer so that you can set everything up – starting with the texture size.The AssetPostprocessor has a context property from which you can determine the target platform. As such, you can complete platform-specific changes, like setting the textures to a lower resolution for mobile:Next, check the label to see if the texture is a UI texture, and set it accordingly:For the rest of the textures, set the values to a default. It’s worth noting that Albedo is the only texture that will have sRGB enabled:Thanks to the above script, when you drag and drop the new textures into the Editor, they will automatically have the right settings in place.“Channel packing” refers to the combination of diverse textures into one by using the different channels. It is common and offers many advantages. For instance, the value of the Red channel is metallic and the value of the Green channel is its smoothness.However, combining all textures into one requires some extra work from the art team. If the packing needs to change for some reason (i.e., a change in the shader), the art team will have to redo all the textures that are used with that shader.As you can see, there’s room for improvement here. The approach that I like to use for channel packing is to create a special asset type where you set the “raw” textures and generate a channel-packed texture to use in your materials.First, I create a dummy file with a specific extension and then use a Scripted Importer that does all the heavy lifting when importing that asset. This is how it works:The importers can have parameters, such as the textures you need to combine.From the importer, you can set the textures as a dependency, which allows the dummy asset to be reimported every time one of the source textures changes. This lets you rebuild the generated textures accordingly.The importer has a version. If you need to change the way that textures are packed, you can modify the importer and bump the version. This will force a regeneration of all the packed textures in your project and everything will be packed in the new way, immediately.A nice side effect of generating things in an importer is that the generated assets only live in the Library folder, so it doesn’t fill up your version control.To implement this, create a ScriptableObject that will hold the created textures and serve as the result of the importer. In the example, I called this class TexturePack.With this created, you can begin by declaring the importer class and adding the ScriptedImporterAttribute to define the version and extension associated with the importer:In the importer, declare the fields you want to use. They will appear in the Inspector, just as MonoBehaviours and ScriptableObjects do:With the parameters ready, create new textures from the ones you have set as parameters. Note, however, that in the Preprocessor (from the previous section), we set isReadable to True to do this.In this prototype, you’ll notice two textures: the Albedo, which has the Albedo in the RGB and a mask for applying the player color in the Alpha, and the Mask texture, which includes the metallic in the Red channel and the smoothness in the Green channel.While this is perhaps outside the scope of this article, let’s look at how to combine the Albedo and the player mask as an example. First, check to see if the textures are set, and if they are, get their color data. Then set the textures as dependencies using AssetImportContext.DependsOnArtifact. As mentioned above, this will force the object to be recalculated if any of the textures end up changing.You also need to create a new texture. To do this, get the size from the TexturePreprocessor that you created in the previous section so that it follows the preset restrictions:Next, fill in all the data for the new texture. This could be massively optimized by using Jobs and Burst (but that would require an entire article on its own). Here we’ll use a simple loop:Set this data in the texture:Now, you can create the method for generating another texture in a very similar way. Once this is ready, create the main body of the importer. In this case, we’ll only create the ScriptableObject that holds the results, creates the textures, and sets the result of the importer through the AssetImportContext.When you write an importer, all of the assets generated must be registered using AssetImportContext.AddObjectToAsset so that they appear in the project window. Select a main asset using AssetImportContext.SetMainObject. This is what it looks like:The only thing left to do is to create the dummy assets. As these are custom, you can’t use the CreateAssetMenuattribute. You must make them manually instead.Using the MenuItem attribute, specify the full path to the create the asset menu, Assets/Create. To create the asset, use ProjectWindowUtil.CreateAssetWithContent, which generates a file with the content you’ve specified and allows the user to input a name for it. It looks like this:Finally, create the channel-packed textures.Most projects use custom shaders. Sometimes they’re used to add extra effects, like a dissolve effect to fade out defeated enemies, and other times, the shaders implement a custom art style, like toon shaders. Whatever the use case, Unity will create new materials with the default shader, and you will need to change it to use the custom shader.In this example, the shader used for units has two added features: the dissolve effect and the player color (red and blue in the video prototype). When implementing these in your project, you must ensure that all the buildings and units use the appropriate shader.To validate that an asset matches certain requirements – in this case, that it uses the right shader – there is another useful class: the AssetModificationProcessor. With AssetModificationProcessor.OnWillSaveAssets, in particular, you’ll be notified when Unity is about to write an asset to disk. This will give you the opportunity to check if the asset is correct and fix it before it’s saved.Additionally, you can “tell” Unity not to save the asset, which is effective for when the problem you detect cannot be fixed automatically. To accomplish this, create the OnWillSaveAssets method:To process the assets, check whether they are materials and if they have the right labels. If they match the code below, then you have the correct shader:What’s convenient here is that this code is also called when the asset is created, meaning the new material will have the correct shader.As a new feature in Unity 2022, we also have Material Variants. Material Variants are incredibly useful when creating materials for units. In fact, you can create a base material and derive the materials for each unit from there – overriding the relevant fields (like the textures) and inheriting the rest of the properties. This allows for solid defaults for our materials, which can be updated as needed.Importing animations is similar to importing textures. There are various settings that need to be established, and some of them can be automated.Unity imports the materials of all the FBX (.fbx) files by default. For animations, the materials you want to use will either be in the project or in the FBX of the mesh. The extra materials from the animation FBX appear every time you search for materials in the project, adding quite a bit of noise, so it’s worth disabling them.To set up the rig – that is, choosing between Humanoid and Generic, and in cases where we are using a carefully setup avatar, assigning it – apply the same approach that was applied to textures. But for animations, the message you’ll use is AssetPostprocessor.OnPreprocessModel. This will be called for all FBX files, so you need to discern animation FBX files from model FBX files.Thanks to the labels you set up earlier, this shouldn’t be too complicated. The method starts much like the one for textures:Next up, you’ll want to use the rig from the mesh FBX, so you need to find that asset. To locate the asset, use the labels once more. In the case of this prototype, animations have labels that end with “animation,” whereas meshes have labels that end with “model.” You can complete a simple replacement to get the label for your model. Once you have the label, find your asset using AssetDatabase.FindAssets with “l:label-name.”When accessing other assets, there’s something else to consider: It’s possible that, in the middle of the import process, the avatar has not yet been imported when this method is called. If this occurs, the LoadAssetAtPath will return null and you won’t be able to set the avatar. To work around this issue, set a dependency to the path of the avatar. The animation will be imported again once the avatar is imported, and you will be able to set it there.Putting all of this into code will look something like this:Now you can drag the animations into the right folder, and if your mesh is ready, each one will be set up automatically. But if there isn’t an avatar available when you import the animations, the project won’t be able to pick it up once it’s created. Instead, you’ll need to reimport the animation manually after creating it. This can be done by right-clicking the folder with the animations and selecting Reimport.You can see all of this in the sample video below.Using exactly the same ideas from the previous sections, you’ll want to set up the models you are going to use. In this case, employ AssetPostrocessor.OnPreprocessModel to set the importer settings for this model.For the prototype, I’ve set the importer to not generate materials (I will use the ones I’ve created in the project) and checked whether the model is a unit or a building (by verifying the label, as always). The units are set to generate an avatar, but the avatar creation for the buildings is disabled, as the buildings aren’t animated.For your project, you might want to set the materials and animators (and anything else you want to add) when importing the model. This way, the Prefab generated by the importer is ready for immediate use.To do this, use the AssetPostprocessor.OnPostprocessModel method. This method is called after a model is finished importing. It receives the Prefab that has been generated as a parameter, which lets us modify the Prefab however we want.For the prototype, I found the material and Animation Controller by matching the label, just as I located the avatar for the animations. With the Renderer and Animator in the Prefab, I set the material and the controller as in normal gameplay.You can then drop the model into your project and it will be ready to drop into any scene. Except we haven’t set any gameplay-related components, which I’ll address in the second part of this blog.With these advanced scripting tips, you’re just about game ready. Stay tuned for the next installment in this two-part Tech from the Trenches article, which will cover hacks for balancing game data and more.If you would like to discuss the article, or share your ideas after reading it, head on over to our Scripting forum. You can also connect with me on Twitter at @CaballolD.