Yining Karl Li
@yiningkarlli.bsky.social
Rendering Engineer at Disney Animation working on Disney's Hyperion Renderer. Previously at Pixar, Dreamworks, Cornell, Penn. Views here are my own.
https://www.yiningkarlli.com
https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@yiningkarlli
https://www.yiningkarlli.com
https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@yiningkarlli
Zootopia 2 also has a zillion throwaway background jokes that were put in by the crowds team simply because they could- I doubt any single person, directors included, knows every single one of them.
Example: one of the bars in Marsh Market is an aquarium and it has scuba diving gerbils in it.
Example: one of the bars in Marsh Market is an aquarium and it has scuba diving gerbils in it.
November 28, 2025 at 5:23 AM
Zootopia 2 also has a zillion throwaway background jokes that were put in by the crowds team simply because they could- I doubt any single person, directors included, knows every single one of them.
Example: one of the bars in Marsh Market is an aquarium and it has scuba diving gerbils in it.
Example: one of the bars in Marsh Market is an aquarium and it has scuba diving gerbils in it.
You know all of the old Bionicle CG still holds up decently well today.
November 26, 2025 at 10:02 PM
You know all of the old Bionicle CG still holds up decently well today.
The 2013 Mac Pro is actually a really fun/neat machine to disassemble and reassemble. I don’t know that I would call it Apple’s best hardware design, but certainly a lot of points earned for making something really weird and different!
November 24, 2025 at 6:36 AM
The 2013 Mac Pro is actually a really fun/neat machine to disassemble and reassemble. I don’t know that I would call it Apple’s best hardware design, but certainly a lot of points earned for making something really weird and different!
So I did this like two years ago, and not only did I do this, I also upgraded every component I could to max supported specs.
This was not a particularly wise use of money but it turns out that as an adult I was able to just do this because I wanted to and nobody could stop me.
This was not a particularly wise use of money but it turns out that as an adult I was able to just do this because I wanted to and nobody could stop me.
November 24, 2025 at 6:34 AM
So I did this like two years ago, and not only did I do this, I also upgraded every component I could to max supported specs.
This was not a particularly wise use of money but it turns out that as an adult I was able to just do this because I wanted to and nobody could stop me.
This was not a particularly wise use of money but it turns out that as an adult I was able to just do this because I wanted to and nobody could stop me.
Two more that I thought would be fun to crop to XPan-style 65:24 aspect ratio. Cropping down to 65:24 on an iPhone pic is sort of crazy, but I think the grain kind of works here.
November 15, 2025 at 10:01 AM
Two more that I thought would be fun to crop to XPan-style 65:24 aspect ratio. Cropping down to 65:24 on an iPhone pic is sort of crazy, but I think the grain kind of works here.
Even though I live in LA, I'm almost never in Hollywood (because ew). But I was there for something last week, and thought it would be fun to try shooting pics using only
@halideapp.bsky.social on my iPhone 14 Pro... I think the pics turned out pretty nicely!
@halideapp.bsky.social on my iPhone 14 Pro... I think the pics turned out pretty nicely!
November 15, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Even though I live in LA, I'm almost never in Hollywood (because ew). But I was there for something last week, and thought it would be fun to try shooting pics using only
@halideapp.bsky.social on my iPhone 14 Pro... I think the pics turned out pretty nicely!
@halideapp.bsky.social on my iPhone 14 Pro... I think the pics turned out pretty nicely!
One of the most insane G7s I’ve ever seen to win one of the most insane World Series I’ve ever seen, all carried on the back of Yoshinobu Yamamoto who put in the series pitching performance of a lifetime.
Man I love baseball.
Man I love baseball.
November 2, 2025 at 7:35 AM
One of the most insane G7s I’ve ever seen to win one of the most insane World Series I’ve ever seen, all carried on the back of Yoshinobu Yamamoto who put in the series pitching performance of a lifetime.
Man I love baseball.
Man I love baseball.
I said October baseball is the best sport ever invented, but there's actually one sport that's even better:
NOVEMBER BASEBALL GAME 7 OF THE WORLD SERIES.
NOVEMBER BASEBALL GAME 7 OF THE WORLD SERIES.
November 1, 2025 at 5:49 AM
I said October baseball is the best sport ever invented, but there's actually one sport that's even better:
NOVEMBER BASEBALL GAME 7 OF THE WORLD SERIES.
NOVEMBER BASEBALL GAME 7 OF THE WORLD SERIES.
Okay, hear me out, crazy idea, but since Apple is already making these anyway, what if Apple put a nice machined aluminum faceplate on these and sold them as a product. It could have a cool name like "XServe" or something. Dunno, just spitballing, ya know?
October 23, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Okay, hear me out, crazy idea, but since Apple is already making these anyway, what if Apple put a nice machined aluminum faceplate on these and sold them as a product. It could have a cool name like "XServe" or something. Dunno, just spitballing, ya know?
A little known fact about AI art is that before the invention of AI art, nobody in the history of humanity had ever come up with the idea of "anime character looking at a sunset" before.
October 19, 2025 at 5:20 AM
A little known fact about AI art is that before the invention of AI art, nobody in the history of humanity had ever come up with the idea of "anime character looking at a sunset" before.
Shohei Ohtani puts in the greatest single game performance by any player in the history of baseball in order to sweep the Brewers in the NLCS and punch the Dodgers’ 5th World Series ticket in 9 years.
In 50 years I’m going to be telling my grandkids that I was alive to see this.
In 50 years I’m going to be telling my grandkids that I was alive to see this.
October 18, 2025 at 4:21 AM
Shohei Ohtani puts in the greatest single game performance by any player in the history of baseball in order to sweep the Brewers in the NLCS and punch the Dodgers’ 5th World Series ticket in 9 years.
In 50 years I’m going to be telling my grandkids that I was alive to see this.
In 50 years I’m going to be telling my grandkids that I was alive to see this.
As usual, new Apple products means new Apple USDZ files of said products. The Vision Pro USDZ file has been updated with the new dual knit headstrap thing.
Unfortunately no nifty in-browser GLTF viewer this time though, unlike the iPhone 17 launch.
www.apple.com/105/media/us...
Unfortunately no nifty in-browser GLTF viewer this time though, unlike the iPhone 17 launch.
www.apple.com/105/media/us...
October 16, 2025 at 4:27 AM
As usual, new Apple products means new Apple USDZ files of said products. The Vision Pro USDZ file has been updated with the new dual knit headstrap thing.
Unfortunately no nifty in-browser GLTF viewer this time though, unlike the iPhone 17 launch.
www.apple.com/105/media/us...
Unfortunately no nifty in-browser GLTF viewer this time though, unlike the iPhone 17 launch.
www.apple.com/105/media/us...
Someday I’m going to be telling my grandkids about Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the 2025 NLCS.
October 15, 2025 at 4:14 AM
Someday I’m going to be telling my grandkids about Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the 2025 NLCS.
Lol here's Elon's AI failing spectacularly. Kerkering bobbled the catch but recovered fast enough to throw, but then threw it wide to home instead of first, allowing Kim to score. Literally none of the players Grok mentioned had anything to do with this, and Grok got the reason totally wrong too.
October 10, 2025 at 5:37 AM
Lol here's Elon's AI failing spectacularly. Kerkering bobbled the catch but recovered fast enough to throw, but then threw it wide to home instead of first, allowing Kim to score. Literally none of the players Grok mentioned had anything to do with this, and Grok got the reason totally wrong too.
It's taken a while for everyone to get healthy, but the Dodgers starting rotation that was promised is finally in full gear, and it's proving to be one of the best starting rotations ever assembled. It's a Death Star.
The exhaust port of course being the Dodgers bullpen.
The exhaust port of course being the Dodgers bullpen.
September 18, 2025 at 4:47 AM
It's taken a while for everyone to get healthy, but the Dodgers starting rotation that was promised is finally in full gear, and it's proving to be one of the best starting rotations ever assembled. It's a Death Star.
The exhaust port of course being the Dodgers bullpen.
The exhaust port of course being the Dodgers bullpen.
I think I got Kerr black holes mostly working. I've had to make some simplifications, but the core frame-dragging effect is now implemented. Kerr black holes have angular momentum (spin), which causes asymmetry in the gravitational lensing.
September 12, 2025 at 6:34 AM
I think I got Kerr black holes mostly working. I've had to make some simplifications, but the core frame-dragging effect is now implemented. Kerr black holes have angular momentum (spin), which causes asymmetry in the gravitational lensing.
Schwarzschild black holes now work, with plausible Einstein and photon rings and temp test accretion disk. Next up: Kerr black holes.
Wacky part of this project: this is RenderMan integrator that extends PxrPathTracer even though I don't have the source for PxrPathTracer.
Wacky part of this project: this is RenderMan integrator that extends PxrPathTracer even though I don't have the source for PxrPathTracer.
September 11, 2025 at 9:24 AM
Schwarzschild black holes now work, with plausible Einstein and photon rings and temp test accretion disk. Next up: Kerr black holes.
Wacky part of this project: this is RenderMan integrator that extends PxrPathTracer even though I don't have the source for PxrPathTracer.
Wacky part of this project: this is RenderMan integrator that extends PxrPathTracer even though I don't have the source for PxrPathTracer.
Does anyone remember back when RED was working on a 165mmx56mm 28K sensor? That would have basically been an XPan, but made out of two IMAX film sized frames instead of two 35mm frames.
Whatever happened to that project. That would have been wild.
Whatever happened to that project. That would have been wild.
September 11, 2025 at 5:09 AM
Does anyone remember back when RED was working on a 165mmx56mm 28K sensor? That would have basically been an XPan, but made out of two IMAX film sized frames instead of two 35mm frames.
Whatever happened to that project. That would have been wild.
Whatever happened to that project. That would have been wild.
Been working on a fun little hobby experiment recently with relativistic ray tracing. Don't have everything working just yet, but I do have some really neat debug visuals:
September 10, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Been working on a fun little hobby experiment recently with relativistic ray tracing. Don't have everything working just yet, but I do have some really neat debug visuals:
The Nikon ZR is exactly the kind of thing I was hoping would come out of Nikon buying RED last year. The ZR looks awesome: RED tech crammed into a Nikon Z-mount body. Also the $1600 price undercut vs the Canon EOS C50 and the Sony FX3 is wild.
September 10, 2025 at 4:34 AM
The Nikon ZR is exactly the kind of thing I was hoping would come out of Nikon buying RED last year. The ZR looks awesome: RED tech crammed into a Nikon Z-mount body. Also the $1600 price undercut vs the Canon EOS C50 and the Sony FX3 is wild.
Alarmingly, the Apple Polishing Cloth is NOT listed as compatible with the new iPhone 17 phones or the new Apple Watches.
www.apple.com/shop/product...
www.apple.com/shop/product...
September 10, 2025 at 4:18 AM
Alarmingly, the Apple Polishing Cloth is NOT listed as compatible with the new iPhone 17 phones or the new Apple Watches.
www.apple.com/shop/product...
www.apple.com/shop/product...
The CEO of Perplexity has ChatGPT installed on his phone but not Perplexity 🤣
September 5, 2025 at 10:41 PM
The CEO of Perplexity has ChatGPT installed on his phone but not Perplexity 🤣
GPT5 is like having a team of PhDs in your pocket.
Bar graph from GPT5 team of PhDs announcement video:
🤔
Bar graph from GPT5 team of PhDs announcement video:
🤔
August 7, 2025 at 6:37 PM
GPT5 is like having a team of PhDs in your pocket.
Bar graph from GPT5 team of PhDs announcement video:
🤔
Bar graph from GPT5 team of PhDs announcement video:
🤔
CUDA 13 is out and drops support for pre-Turing architectures 🫡:
August 4, 2025 at 5:59 PM
CUDA 13 is out and drops support for pre-Turing architectures 🫡: