Rune Bow — Light-Rune Bow for VRChat (Runelight No.1)

▶ VRChat avatar effect · PC only · needs Modular Avatar (free, from VCC) · drag-and-drop prefab
Not made for one avatar: Modular Avatar hooks it to your avatar's own left hand bone at upload, so it works on humanoid avatars in general. Checked in Unity on the VRChat SDK sample avatar.

A bow made of nothing but floating light runes. Press your palms together and it grows out of your hands; pull the string and the runes gather into an arrow that flies a real arc, farther the harder you draw.
No metal, no frame: every part is a glyph of light. Even while you stand still, the runes breathe and twinkle along the curve and the little galaxy at the grip keeps turning.

TWO THINGS YOU DO WITH YOUR HANDS
1. Palms together (hold for about 0.35 s): a galaxy seed lights up between your hands. Part them and the bow grows out of the grip in 1.2 s. Do it again while you hold the bow: the runes spiral into your palms and grow back as the next form. Galaxy → Fallen → Void → put away (0.7 s).
2. Grab the string and pull: runes run from the tips down the string and become an arrow as you draw (up to 0.44 m). Twist the string while you pull and the arrow on the string splits: 1 shaft → 3 → 5, fanned out toward the grip. Each form splits its own way: Galaxy's shafts slide out evenly and throw shards straight out; Fallen's crack apart in three jolts and shed falling chips; Void's wind out on a spiral while shards are drawn into them. Let go and the whole volley flies.

THE SHOT
• How far you drew sets the speed: 10 m/s at a quarter, 16 m/s at half, 28 m/s at a full draw
• The arrow falls under gravity, so it flies a real arc, and each form carries its own weight. Measured in Unity, shot level from 1.3 m high, it lands about this far (quarter / half / full draw): Galaxy 5.1 / 8.2 / 14.4 m · Fallen 3.5 / 5.6 / 9.7 m · Void 6.6 / 10.6 / 18.6 m
• A trail of rune light follows it, and where it hits a wall or the floor the runes burst
• A volley of 3 or 5 leaves side by side from a small ring around the arrow, then each form flies it its own way (below)
• The runes of the bow surge forward as it fires
• Two arrow sets take turns, so a quick second shot doesn't cut off the first

EACH FORM SHOOTS ITS OWN WAY
• Galaxy (order): the volley flies straight and parallel, holding its formation. Where it hits, the sparks open into a flat ring
• Fallen (broken): the arrows leave scattered, waver as they fly and drop sooner. The sparks spill out and drip down
• Void (pulled in): every arrow corkscrews around its line of flight and carries farther. The sparks collapse inward to the point of impact
• Each form has its own arrowhead in its own colour: a full delta (Galaxy), a crooked thorn (Fallen), a hollow ring round a dark hole (Void)

3 FORMS (each one a different shape, not only a colour)
• Galaxy (order): evenly spaced blue runes on one fine thread of light, nothing round them, angular shoulders, a spiral galaxy at the grip
• Fallen (broken): crimson runes in a cracked, thorny frame, a sagging lower limb, a string in broken pieces, red drops falling
• Void (pulled in): violet strands sweep into a black hole at the grip, shards drift in toward it
Changing form: the runes scatter and gather again into the new shape (0.9 s). Nothing pops.

MENU ("Rune Bow")
• Galaxy / Fallen / Void: show the bow in that form (all off = put away)
• Palm summon: the palms-together gesture on / off (on to start, remembered). Turn it off if you clap a lot.
• Effects: the trails, the hit bursts and the floating star dust on / off (on to start, remembered). The bow, the arrows and both hand gimmicks keep working.

FULL OR LITE (2 prefabs in the package)
• Runelight_No1_RuneBow (Full): trails and world collision, so arrows burst where they land
• Runelight_No1_RuneBow_Lite: no trails, no collision; arrows burst in the air at the end of their flight
VRChat PC performance rank of the bow by itself (VRChat SDK check): Full = Medium (particle trails and collision count as Medium) · Lite = Good.
In VRChat you see the rank of your avatar and the bow together (on the SDK sample avatar, which is Medium by itself, both are Medium).

EASY TO PUT ON
Drag one prefab onto your avatar and upload. Modular Avatar adds the "Rune Bow" menu, the parameters and the animator layers for you, and keeps the bow on your left hand bone.

WHAT'S INCLUDED
• RL_1.0.0.unitypackage: 2 prefabs (Full / Lite), 4 shaders, 2 textures (runes and arrowheads), materials, menu and animator
Folders: Assets/Caligo/Runelight/No.1 Rune Bow/ (the bow) and Assets/Caligo/Runelight/_Common/ (shaders and runes shared by the Runelight series)
• README (English and Japanese)

SPECS
• Tris: 2,542 (bow 1,634 + string and arrow 908)
• Mesh renderers: 1 + 1 skinned / Materials: 5 (Lite 4) / Textures: 2 (512 each) / Lights: none
• Particle systems: 4 (at most 130 particles) / PhysBones: 1 / Contacts: 2 (your own palms)
• Synced parameters: 28 bits

REQUIREMENTS
• Modular Avatar (available through VCC)

TESTED WITH
Unity 2022.3.22f1 / VRChat SDK 3.10.5 / Modular Avatar 1.18.7. The parts, the parameters, the menu and the animator steps are checked in Unity, and both prefabs import into a clean project with no problems.
PC only (custom shaders, no Quest version).

GOOD TO KNOW
• Right-handed archery: the bow sits in your left hand and you pull with your right.
• Arrows only hit the world, never other players. No damage, no hit effects on people.
• People who block custom shaders or particles in their Safety settings won't see the effect.

SUPPORT
If the palms, the draw, the twist or anything else doesn't work as described in VRChat, message me on Jinxxy. I'll fix it and send you the update for free.

AI DISCLOSURE (AI-Assisted)
The shaders, the code that builds this bow and the text on this page were written with help from an AI assistant. An AI image generator made rough concept sketches I looked at while designing (the shape follows one of them); nothing it made is in the files or in the preview images, which are rendered in Unity from the actual bow.

RUNELIGHT SERIES
No.1 of five light-rune pieces made to go together.

TERMS
• OK to use on your avatar in VRChat and other platforms
• OK to stream, record, and post on social media
• Editing is fine
• Please don't redistribute or resell the files, edited or not

UPDATES
• v1.0.0 (2026-11-07): first release