See More Avatars from: Conjoh Komine

21 Feb 10 | List Price: 1000L$

Conjoh Komine has created a variety of different avatars in Second LIfe; spanning between quads to tinies to anthropomorphic avatars. A friend of mine had given me a tiny tiger as a gift (A special thanks to Fuzz Husky) and heavily suggested I review it for the 2010 Chinese New Year. While a little late, here it is, the Conjoh Komine Tiny Tiger.

Out of the Box:

• Measurement	Value
  Script Time with HUD	~0.238
  Script Time without HUD	~0.238
  Avatar Rendering Cost	~356

  Multiple Eye Colours

• Muzzle Talking Function
  • Tongue In/Out Toggle
• Bum-hole Show/Hide
  • Poo Animation
• Paw Prints (Various Colours and Brightness)
• Full Animation Overrider with jumps, runs, digging, etc.

Build and Skin:

This avatar is extremely simple in construction with 8 tiny sculpts attachments to make up the body. Because it is a quadruped tiny avatar, there are is no body shape that is shown, just the sculpted prims.

It doesn’t work to review a quad, let alone a tiny avatar in the same way we cover anthropomorphic avatars, so we’ll employ a different format. The body for this avatar is well made and sculpted with no kinds of wrinkling anywhere on the body. Each of the paws are small and seemingly infantile, which is a signal for the ‘kitten/cub’ theme that we see this tiger aiming for. Each of the legs and paws are joined together for a clean, smoothly defined appendage.

The trunk of the body is slightly cone-shaped from the front to the back of the avatar. The stripes are vibrant and most tiger-like here, just the right amount so as to not look too confusing to the eye or too little to look un-tiger-like. The entire underside and the inside of the legs are coloured a silky white. This patch of white arches up the back of the digitigrade legs to frame the rump region of the avatar. Users are able to choose whether they wish to have the texture for the anus visible or not. Also included is the ability for the avatar to do a little bit of a shake and seemingly struggle to relieve itself, resulting in a slightly steaming pile of poo on the ground.

The tail is a flexible prim, always arched high above the head. The textures are nice, but the shape of the tail is obviously very cylindrical and could have benefited from a semi-transparent texture to give the end of the tail a more fluffy, rather than cylinder kind of cut. Users through the Menu can choose to lower the tail a little bit, or even make it wag back and forth like a mischevious, overly-interested tiger.

Now, on to the head. There is not much of a neck to separate the head from the body, but the transition from trunk to the head is good enough for the purposes of the avatar. In general, the head on this avatar is well sized, large enough to maintain a kitten-ish appearance and show many of the features unique to this species. The sides of the cheeks are slightly ruffled, so the face has a soft, rounded appearance. As is expected, the stripes that are well done on the body are also well done on the face, with an aesthetic patterning that makes sense.

The eyes themselves are colour changeable and close when the avatar is ‘asleep,’ or the user wishes the eyes to be closed. There is no blinking animation, but the avatar can’t really be faulted for the minor oversight. The muzzle is small, but very effective at further showing the juvenile qualities of the face. Below the small pink nose, the muzzle is set in an almost pouty expression. In short, between the muzzle and the eyes, the face has successfully managed to convey character and cute.

The interior of the muzzle is simple, featuring a complete tongue and set of teeth. While small, the jaws of the feline do look as if they can afflict a reasonable amount of damage on a target. In an interesting design move, the head moves slightly as the user types, but the jaws only move after the user has hit ‘Enter.’ Additionally, users are able to stick their tongue out when the muzzle is open. Finally, both ears at the top of the head are unmoving, but made a little oversized to add the final touch of juvenile quality.

Features and Heads-Up Display (HUD):

Many of the features are controllable through the included HUD, but some of the options are available only through clicking specific body points. The system for getting to options one desires is a little complex and confusing, so we’ll try to simplify and summarise as best as we can.

Users are also able to click different parts of the avatar itself to access different options. The following is taken from the texture offered with the avatar which acts as a bit of a guidance manual. Beware that because of invisible prims, it may be difficult to click certain parts of the body; you might find you’ve clicked the ‘chest’ instead of the head or the tail prims. Clicking the very tip of the tail or the very top of the head or ears helps bypass this problem.

Animations:

Being a tiny avatar with a simple fairly construction, a large part of what makes this tiger what it is due to the animations. In short, it comes with a huge variety of animations which have all been made very well, and take into account circumstances such as making an animation happen if the avatar is actually sitting on an object, or using an alternative version of the same animation if the avatar is not actually sitting anything.

The animation overrider is found in the HUD, so taking it off renders the avatar useless. Fortunately, it is not too intrusive and can be put at the corner of the screen. Users will find animations from lying, jumping, praying, digging, growling, and as mentioned, pooping.

Customisation:

This avatar is found as both modifiable and copiable, so users are able to make any changes or modifications to the avatar without much of an issue.

Conclusion:

The Conjoh Komine Tiny Tiger avatar is a fun and neat creature that any user could be able to enjoy. What is remarkable is not only how small the avatar manages to be, but also how well it imitates the antics and attributes of a feline cub. For those who celebrate the Chinese New Year; may it be a happy and successful one.

This review was written by Forepawz - Contributor and Senior Editor | Filed under Avatar Reviews, Conjoh Komine
Tagged conjoh, cub, feline, japanese, komine, quad, tiger, tiny.