Bats are the only mammal capable of sustaining true flight and are found on almost every continent in the world. Within the furry community, however, they can sometimes seem a bit rarer and it isn’t very often that we really see a new bat avatar released in Second Life. Avatar Planet steps up to help even out the numbers with their third avatar, the Avatar Planet Bat.

Overall Impressions

Fresh out of the box, the Avatar Planet Bat presents itself with vivid and crisp textures. Stylistically, the bat is a very comfortable medium between extreme realism and a hyper-cartoony style, resulting in a smooth, lightly detailed avatar. To keep the avatar from becoming so smooth it seems overly simplistic, it features several well-placed patches of textured fur around its body. From its ears to its long fingers and plantigrade feet, it is also immediately obvious that the bat has had a lot of attention given to making sure that it is anatomically correct. The avatar is largely unrigged mesh, but does contain prim ears and a prim tail. Although the avatar is plantigrade, the AVP Bat does include sculpted calves which make the foot-to-leg transition seamless and add a bit of ankle fluff. The simplistic HUD features a “Movement” tab, where users can control things like nose type, wing span, and jaw rotation, as well as a “Colours/Appearance” tab where the bat’s eyes, tongue, and wing-webbing can be tinted.

Strengths

The Avatar Planet Bat accomplishes multiple things very well, but the foremost of them is just how bat-like the avatar truly is. It contains a number of important features, including trademark bat ears, two bat-nose variations, wings, and structurally correct hands and feet. The avatar also includes optional chest fluff, two wing options, and two tintable hair styles. While each hair style is technically labeled “male” and “female” both have a sort of punk/mohawk look and can easily be used on either gender of avatar. Both sets of wings have folded and unfolded states that can be controlled automatically, remaining folded until the avatar flies, or manually, folding and unfolding at the user’s discretion. Another great addition to the avatar is the included Flight AO, which offers smooth and realistic flight animations for each of the two wing sets.

Weaknesses

The HUD for the bat is perhaps one of its weakest points. While it isn’t terribly hard to figure out, it doesn’t feel very intuitive, either. Upon attaching the HUD for the first time, the user is greeted with a rather large interface that defaults to the “Movement” tab, despite the HUD having a navigation/main page. Although there are only two tabs, there is no easy way to get between them beyond hitting the “back” button to go to the main page. While the HUD does feature a “hide” button, it can only be accessed from the main page and even when hidden, the smaller blue HUD button is surrounded by a large white square that only draws further attention to it. As you begin to inspect the avatar more closely, there are also a few noticeable places where the textures don’t quite line up, namely in the head. These include where the cheek fluff meets the head and where the jaw connects to the head when the mouth is open.

Unique Features

For users seeking an anatomically correct bat that isn’t overly realistic, the Avatar Planet Bat is absolutely the place to turn. The avatar provides well-sculpted feet/legs and hands that are completely appropriate for a bat as well as very bat-like ears and wings. As a bonus to those who do not prefer the pointed nose many bats possess, the avatar includes an alternate, more canine nose (referred to as the “flying fox” nose). The bat also contains two wing types: a set of arm-esque wings that extend from the shoulder blades of the avatar and a set of more finger-like wings that extend directly from (and replace) the hands. Both sets of wings are a compromise from more realistic bat wings, which would connect from the fingers or “hand” of the avatar with webbing that would line the sides or back of the body. Given the necessary anthropomorphic aspects of a furry avatar, however, both wings are very aesthetically pleasing and either make an excellent choice for the completed avatar.

Conclusion

While the Avatar Planet Bat does feature a HUD that could probably use a little more work, I would not call it a deterrent for anyone looking to purchase the avatar. Overall, the bat is a smooth-looking and fun avatar that should satisfy a number of longings among bat-lovers while still catering to the average user just looking for a nice avatar.

Given the rarity of sheep and goat avatars in Second Life, Orange Nova’s Luddi Lamb is a refreshing addition to the world of rigged mesh anthropomorphic avatars. The avatar has a cartoony, satyr-like appearance and plenty of customization options, making it a great choice for anyone who has been waiting for a cute sheep avatar to finally show up on the marketplace.

Overall Impressions

The first thing you notice about the Orange Nova Luddi Lamb is its box, prior to unpacking: a small, wooden goat (otherwise referred to as “The Trojan Goat” in the readme.) This playful introduction to the lamb sets the tone for the avatar, which is a fully rigged mesh lamb. Appearance-wise, the lamb is toony, with wide eyes and smooth, crisp textures. Due to its stylized nature, it does not feature any sort of adult or mature skin, although the avatar does come with both female and male variations. Each piece of the body (torso, legs, hands/head, horns, eyes, ears, and tail) attaches individually with perfectly connecting textures. The HUD for the avatar is filled with features, allowing you to control everything from the eyes and face to the finger positions, which can all be moved independently. The lamb also comes with several options including two horn variations and wooly/curly fur for its legs and forearms. The male and female avatars come with their own sculpted tops and hair, but share underwear. The lamb is also ripe for modding, with textures and .PSDs available on the Orange Nova website as well as an unrigged head, separate hands, and untextured plantigrade legs.

Strengths

Despite being a rigged mesh avatar, which may feel constraining to some users, the lamb offers plenty of out-of-the-box customization. All of the mesh body parts are tintable and editable, meaning users can choose virtually any color or texture for their lamb. Furthermore, the avatar’s shape can be changed using several of (but not all of) the shape sliders in SL. Although the lamb largely retains its wide-hipped pear shape, it can easily be made to look quite different from the freshly unpacked version. The UI for the avatar offers even further customization, allowing users to change the lamb’s facial expression, eye color, and a number of other features. When editing the eyes specifically, there are 5 areas to be managed. Each area (eye-white, iris, pupil, iris2, and “spec,” or the light reflection on the eye) has several optional textures and can be made any color the user desires. The UI also features a helpful “toggle symmetry” button, which allows users to edit both eyes/fingers/ears together or separately.

For users aching for a little more customization, the lamb’s .PSD file at the Orange Nova website, here: http://orangenova.org/lamb/lamb.html. The file contains the completely shaded textures for the avatar, which will save many modders plenty of time and allow almost anyone to add custom markings or designs to their lamb.

Weaknesses

The Luddi Lamb only comes with three pieces of clothing by default: a male top, a female top, and unisex panties. The textures for these clothing pieces are not currently included with the lamb .PSDs, so owners wanting to customize the clothing will need to create their own textures for the customization of these items. Although the lamb doesn’t necessarily need clothing due to its cartoony nature, some users may be bothered by the lack of clothing options for the avatar. Those wanting to use the wooly legs will find themselves even more at a loss, as the unisex panties do not properly fit the optional wooly legs. While not necessarily a weakness, it’s also important for users to note that some AOs may conflict with the unique shape of the avatar–namely, animations which cross the hands over or near the front of the body will cut directly into the chest and stomach of the avatar.

Unique Features

While the Luddi Lamb is advertised as a sheep it can also easily be made to pass for a stylized/satyr-like goat or ram using the smooth body options and horn variations. The ability of users to directly edit the default markings and textures in Photoshop makes this possibility even more accessible. The avatar steps up readily to take on the challenge of customizing a full-mesh avatar, offering the user plenty of extra options to make the lamb look exactly as they please and even including moddable plantigrade legs for users looking for a slightly less cartoony figure.

Conclusion

The Luddi Lamb aims to be a cute, stylized mesh avatar, which it accomplishes extremely well. Anthropomorphic sheep are few and far between in Second Life, with many of them existing only in highly modded versions of other species, so the addition of Orange Nova’s lamb to Second Life is both exciting and welcome.

Over the years, KzK have brought us tigers, leopards and servals. This time they bring us their next partial mesh feline, harking back towards a more familiar variant, the domestic cat.

Specifications:

First Impressions

The long awaited release of a surprisingly uncommon avatar subject is anything but generic at its first glance. It is immediately clear which species is being represented, both through the crisp mesh shapes and deatailed avatar skins. Not only are the skins textured to a great standard, they have been individually set aside in order to effectively mimic the colours and patternings of many real-world domestic species, including the siamese, the tortoiseshell and the tuxedo to name just three. A fairly new feature with KzK avatars is that instead of having the adult ‘parts’ baked into the skin, two female tattoo layers are provided – one dark, and one greyscale, making them tintable to the wearers content.

This avatar is built mostly with mesh, except for the whiskers, which are created with sculpted prims, and the claws, which are made using torii. Due to being mesh, this avatar can of course only be seen correctly by using a mesh compliant viewer.

The avatar gravitates towards the realistic in regards to style, this is complimented both in the shapes and textures, which are painterly but not overly stylised. The handpaws are very much hybrid, with four fingers and a thumb tipped with retractable claws, in contrast to the feet, which are more true to the quadruped species.  In all, the attachments blend fairly well into the default avatar shape, and there are no heavy interruptions to the seams, nor any visible wrinkling present in the avatar as a whole.

The domestic cat echoes a few new building techniques that were seen in the KzK Hyena in the ways of cheek, heel and tail fluff, which has been created through the use of semitransparent mesh components. From most angles, this is an effective way to show off fine, painterly lines that echo the soft, light nature of feline fur. These aspects still occasionally suffer from some overlay issues, but this will be discussed later.

The HUD is very straightfoward and simple to use, with the same page system we have become accustomed to with this maker. There is a dedicated page for the eyes/ears/tail/eye dilation/typing movements, a page for hand poses, and a page for setting the glow and colour of  individual aspects of the avatar, such as the mouth, nose, eyes, pawpads and claws. The HUD also includes a texture page, offering extra options for the nose and pawpads.

Strengths

The sheer number of available fur patterns and variants of these avatars is staggering. It’s refreshing to see a set of avatars that have been made with each individual type in mind without the temptation to simply apply the hue slider. Whilst in some cases I understand that such a method is the most logical, the result in this effort has created a high caliber set of resolved, striking and undeniable references to each real-world breed.

The texturing has been effectively done in a way that represents soft, furry surfaces. This style transitions fairly easily from the attachments to the default body, with few battles visibly lost  to  externally visible seams on the skin and attachments. Every piece has been purposefully textured, there is no evidence of recycling anywhere on this avatar, not have any areas been neglected. The same quality of work can be seen quite literally from head to tail, from the inside of the mouth to the skin of the pawpads.

The cat avatars come with a set of UV maps for modders to play with to their hearts content, just in case the wide array of available cats still aren’t quite enough, or if wearers are seeking to further personalise their felines.

There are a lot of customisation options as previously mentioned in the HUD, inclusive of facial expressions – a fairly new feature in KzK avatars that stretches beyond the eye and jaw opening. Users are able to toggle the expression of the mouth and brows to further convey a particular emotion. This of course can then be used in conjunction with the hand, ear, eye, jaw and tongue settings.

Weaknesses

Ever since the implementation of semi-transparent textures, Second Life, and all Third Party Viewers have suffered from the glitching that occurs when two semi-transparent textured objects overlap. Textures presented in this way are known to flicker, to shift apparent layer order, or to clip into each other. Whilst this can be successfully avoided in the right light and angles, the domestic cat’s tail, heel and cheek fluff sometimes run into this same issue, interrupting the otherwise careful texturing with clipping and the outline of shapes residing behind it. The concept and reason for using this technique to create a furred surface is logically sound, it is simply unfortunate that this glitching isn’t easily resolvable.

Whilst the quality of the overall texturing is very high, there are some instances of textures not quite lining up on the transition between the leg and tail components, which are understandably tricky areas. The only nuances where the trace of the seam line can be visible on the skin is along the inner upper thigh, but only upon very close inspection on the lighter coloured cats, which is generally outweighed by the high standard seen elsewhere in the avatar.

Unique Features

The Domestic Cat avatars are linked into KzK’s new AUC system, allowing for faster, easier updating. Further information on the AUC system and how it works is explained here: http://www.kinzart.com/support/AUC%20Documentation%20-%20Initial.pdf

This avatar also benefits from something called the AUC Stripdown, which will essentially remove any scripts that are not essential to the avatar in general use (e.g, the colour/glow scripts). Presumably this feature would only be used once the owner is generally happy with these aspects of their avatar and are seeking to further reduce their already low memory usage.

Conclusion

The grid really has been in need of more domestic felines, and this recent flurry is certainly welcome. Personally I am stunned by the amount of choice available for the domestic cats, and have learned of a few other domestic breeds whilst leafing through the selection. Small details like detachable whiskers and recolourable pawpads really make this a pleasant avatar to use, it could not be clearer how much care and attention has gone into making this vast set. The invitation to modify set by the provided maps, along with workable head shapes and sizes to accommodate both sculpted and mesh hair is also certainly a move in the right direction.

Clothing provided by Apricot Paws!

• CLICK HERE FOR A LANDMARK TO THE MAINSTORE
• CLICK HERE FOR A LANDMARK TO A SATELLITE STORE IN A G-RATED SIM
• CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO APRICOT PAWS MARKETPLACE STORE

Greetings, and a happy new year to all of you.

It’s a new year, and with it comes a time to reflect on the past, and a time to look to the future. SLARF has come far in the past few years, and I have been proud to be at the helm. Of course, there have been ups and downs, but I have always remained steadfast in trying to provide impartial reviews to our readers.

You’ve likely noticed that reviews have become more rare, and the time between postings to have grown longer. This is because of a number of factors affecting myself and the rest of the team here at SLARF. Add in a recent change in our staff, and it has become impossible for us to provide reviews in a timely manner.

So, how do we fix this? I have two proposals.

Proposal #1

More writers! SLARF will stay largely the same, but we would take on more writers so that we can get the work done. Unfortunately, we can’t offer monetary payment at this time, but writers receive free review copies of the avatars they are tasked to write. However, you MUST still meet a minimum standard of writing competency. If you feel that you are able to do this, please, send in an application by clicking the button below and filling out the form. Even if you’ve submitted an application before, PLEASE do so again.

Proposal #2

A community-based wiki format. After discussing this proposal with our staff and a few of our avatar creators, I thought I’d open this up to the community. This is how SLARF would work if we switched to this format. The site will retain its look, but each new review would become its own ‘wiki’ page:

• 1. Staff Members will do the photography and video, and write a short blurb on the avatar providing basic information.
• 2. Community members will be able to ‘fill in the blanks’ by writing edits and adding sections to the reviews.
• 3. Staff Members will moderate edits to ensure compliance with our vision. Drama, Trolling, Pettiness, Libel, or any form of antisocial behaviour will not be tolerated.
• 4. Community members who demonstrate good writing skills and write impartial reviews will be promoted and allowed to make edits without needing approval by Staff Members.

Any thoughts? Interested in becoming a writer or have questions, comments, or ideas on the proposed Wiki format?

Leave a comment below!

Regards,

Forepawz

Interested in knowing a little bit more about the Raawr Avatars Husky? Check out this link to see studio shots and the YouTube video!

Studio Photos:

Conclusion:

The Raawr Avatars Husky is a strong canine avatar with many different available colours for users to purchase.The avatar will please those looking for a cute-and-fluffy style of husky, given its innocent-appearing eyes and well-made, traditional tail. Additionally, with the inclusion of UV maps and sample textures, the avatar is very moddable, allowing users to truly make their avatar their own with ease.

Polecats are the wild relatives, and probable ancestors, of the domestic ferret. Dark Spot Designs brings us two of the more well-known varieties, marbled and striped polecats, as two designs of one avatar.

Overall Impressions

The textures and build of this avatar are what one would expect of DSD: vibrant, lively colors, coupled with a smooth, friendly, but realistic build. The attachments and body mesh fit together well with no massive clipping, the textures are crisp and there are no immediately obvious texture mismatches or seams. The avatar is built mainly out of mesh. There are two instances of rigged mesh: the digitigrade legs and the “cut” digitigrade legs (cut off just above the foot so you can wear pants). The plantigrade foot options are not rigged, so those of you not keen on rigged mesh can take your pick. The avatar’s HUD is the same “drop down” style as was seen on the preceding rabbit. In fact, some of the images are the same through both HUDs (there are rabbit ears for the ear poses; however, given how small polecat ears are, this might be for the better so you can easily see what pose you’re clicking).

Strengths

There is a lot of attention paid to detail in this avatar. Look up an image of a marbled polecat – what do you notice? The fluffy ears and poofy tail, and this avatar has both. In addition, the avatar also follows mustelid foot pattern – rather than the typical cookie cutter furry foot, the proper pattern of pads and claws is observed. The markings for both the marbled and striped versions of the avatar are accurate to their real-life counterparts. This avatar comes with two default alpha layers – for digitigrade and plantigrade feet. There is also a box in the Accessories folder (the second folder you are given when you open the box) that contains extra alpha layers, should you need them. While there are a lot of free alpha layers floating around, it’s nice to have some included for you if you don’t have some already. Within the HUD you’ll find all the standard DSD features: customizable ear poses, eye color / texture / pupil shape, claw texture changers, tail fluff adjusters, and so forth. This avatar is definitely not short on customization features!

In addition, this avatar include UV maps, so if you wish to make a modkit, you have a quick and easy way to start. This should make it easier for advanced modders, and for those just starting out, this can be a tremendous help. The UV maps can be found at this link:  http://darkspotdesigns.com/download/

Weaknesses

The avatar does provide hair by default, but the hair is simple and is made mostly of flexible prims and torii. The hair fits its purpose – it’s pre-matched to fit your avatar’s colors – but users may want to opt to use third-party hair instead. The “cut” leg option is very useful if you want to wear long pants. However, it is quite literally “cut” – if you view the cut foot from the back, it’s invisible. This can pose a problem if your pants don’t quite reach the foot cutoff. Also, the cut feet are still rigged; so keep in mind that you cannot directly edit or resize them.

Unique Features

This avatar comes with both the striped and the marbled polecat varieties in one box; the striped variety is labeled “2nd”. It’s always quite pleasing to get marking variants in one avatar, especially so when the markings are so different. The polecat has, by default, rigged digitigrade legs. Polecats, as with their ferret cousins, are plantigrade; however, the way the rigged digi legs are constructed gives the illusion that the avatar is walking on tip-toes, not necessarily fully digitigrade. For those who don’t like this, or need to wear pants, there are “cut” and plantigrade feet options included. As with past avatars, the polecat comes with a separate head and ears with piercings. This is always welcome for users who wish to accessorize without having to heavily mod things.

Conclusion

Mustelids are among my favorite animals. It always makes me happy to see a new mustelid avatar introduced into the Grid, especially when it’s done properly. This avatar’s an excellent port of an interesting creature, and is sure to please.

N.B.: A special thanks goes out to the Callahan Sims for giving us permission to take photos in their sims. Please feel free to visit these scenic areas through this SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Mirromere/128/128/2

Not long after the release of their first avatar (the Red Panda), Avatar Planet presents us with a fox. Foxes are a rather common furry species, and as such it’s always good to see a new creator’s take on them.

Specifications:

First Impressions

The fox brings us the same level of texture quality as AP’s previous avatar, albeit with noticably less fur shading . This helps rid the avatar of the “scaled” look. On the whole, the avatar’s textures line up excellently. The avatar does not include mature skins, so if that’s your thing, you’ll have to find third-party options.

The majority of this avatar is built with mesh. As such, you will need a compatible viewer to be able to see and use it. Using mesh instead of sculpted prims has eliminated prim wrinkling from the avatar, leaving the prims nice and smooth. There are some areas where the prims “clip”, noticeably on the knees, feet, and corners of the jaw, but these are in-world positioning or texture clips, not mesh model clips.

On the “toony versus realistic” scale, this avatar is about in the middle, leaning toward toony. It’s not uber-realistic, nor is it uber-toony; it’s a nice balance between the two. However, the vibrant colors and shading add points to its more idealistic aspect.

The HUD is simple and straightforward. Under the Colors/Appearance menu, you can adjust your avatar’s colors by clicking on the appropriate button and using the HSL color picker. You will see a preview of the colors you’ve chosen on the HUD, so you don’t need to move your camera around to see your feet or inside the mouth.

Under the Movement menu, you can control your ears (twitch on/off, typeturn on/off), jaw (4 pre-set positions, talkjaw on/off, tongue in/out), and your eye state (5 pre-set positions).

The HUD does not need to be worn at all times and can be safely removed if you wish.

A quick note about the jaw movement: There is currently a bug where sometimes the jaw states will not work properly. To fix this, go to a different sim. This should be fixed in the future.

Strengths

This avatar is digitgrade, as foxes are. However, if you remove the digi legs, you will find that the feet may also work well as plantigrade with a little positioning adjustment. Some users may enjoy this versatility, others may argue that such dual-style feet are frustrating, though – this is something that users will have to decide for themselves. I regard it as a strength, personally, especially with the amount of rigged mesh clothing increasing – being able to switch between plantigrade and digitigrade will be useful, if you wish to wear some human pants.

A UV map for the mesh parts will be released soon, so modders can easily retexture the avatar to fit their needs. On that note, the avatar is mod and copy – feel free to edit it to fit your needs. Always keep a backup though, in case something breaks!

The sculpted and flexible fox tails also manage to pull off a fluffy look, giving the avatar a little extra volume.

Weaknesses

Like all things mesh, the quality of the mesh components of the avatar can vary drastically depending on the user’s settings. For the best results, set Object/Avatar level of detail to the maximum 4 under Preferences > Graphics.

The area on the feet where the digi legs connect to them is more of a flat shade of your chosen color, whereas the same area on the digi legs is more fur-textured. This leads to a bit of a texture clash visible mostly upon zooming out.

Neither of the tails included are scripted. Users can add their own tail scripts if desired, but doing so will require some modding experience (a new root prim on the solid tail is needed if you want it to wag, for example).

Unique Features

This avatar comes with tintable male and female hair styles. Third-party hair can be fitted to this avatar with relative ease. However, with all third-party hair, always try a demo, always buy moddable hair, and be wary about rigged mesh. (Rigged hair can be fitted to furries with some effort, but not all hair styles will fit!)

ONE LAST THING:

There are two limited edition Firefox colorations of the avatar available until September 3^rd, 2012. The Firefox comes with all the features of the main Fox, but with a unique design (orange or blue on black), more defined skins, and a firey solid tail. (See below!)

Conclusion

I hear the same compliment for this avatar a lot, and I have to agree: It’s downright adorable. The design of the avatar aims to be slightly more realistic than toony, yet the colors are more toonish than realistic. This is an interesting mix that will definitely make this fox stand out as an option for those looking for the latest vulpine.

Worn in photo: Pants: Apricot Paws – Meshdigi Jeans – Mid Colour CLICK HERE FOR A LANDMARK TO THE MAINSTORE CLICK HERE FOR A LANDMARK TO A SATELLITE STORE IN A G-RATED SIM CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO APRICOT PAWS MARKETPLACE STORE

Domestic cats are a time-honoured favourite pet among many people, and have remained a popular choice of ‘fursona’ or character for many a fur. Luskwood was one of the first avatar creators to offer a domestic feline avatar in Second Life, and have updated the avatar to a modern standard, providing an entirely new product, while keeping the personality of the prior generation.

Out of the Box:

Overall Impressions:

From the start, this avatar sets itself apart from other other felines with a distinct appearance, a must for any avatar in the current market. If any of you remember the earlier Lusk cats, it becomes apparent that this update is more than a refresh, but rather a complete revamp. The Cat manages to push the envelope of Lusk’s style, but still retains the character of the first Lusk felines. The avatar comes with a HUD that users will find themselves comfortable using, and a feature set that will provide plenty of out of the box customisation.

To that end, we’ll dive right in. Texture-wise, this avatar does very well, offering more than 2 dozen different breeds and unique colours for their users. Users are able to choose between breeds; from Tuxedo, Tabby, Tortoiseshell, Siamese, Bicolor and Calico, to name a few. As we have seen with Luskwood’s newer avatars, this avatar features well-painted skins with clear-cut, but soft appearing markings. Shading and highlights to appropriate areas such as the front, back, and thighs, give the textures a more varied and fur-like appearance. The textures do their part to enhance and meld well with the attachments, which then come together neatly with minimal creasing, and zero crinkles in the sculpts or meshes.

Strengths and Weaknesses

One of the strengths, straight-up, with this avatar, is the head. Made entirely out of mesh, it gives the impression of the calm, attentive, but also very relaxed and content feline. Some will  interpret this as a look of indifference, while others will think it’s more of a look of distinguished character. Either way, both characteristics describe many a domestic cat very well.

Additionally, while the head is mesh, Luskwood has chosen to keep the main head prim separate from the muzzle. This can be a strength or a weakness, depending on what the user wants. For some users, it will create the smallest hint of a seam that they will dislike. However, as the modding movement grows increasingly popular on the grid, other users will see the potential to take the muzzle and use it on another av, or swap out other parts of this avatar for yet others. Aside from this, Lusk ensures that there is a difference between male and female copies of the avatar with appropriate shading, breast physics, and noticeable eyelashes on the female avatars.

We’ll take a quick moment to point out that the avatar comes with hair for both males and females. The hair is good for some decoration for beginners, but we would encourage users to try out third party hairs as the default hairs hold the avatar back from reaching its fullest potential. This is especially notable for the back of the female hair.

Otherwise, this avatar is indeed the sum of its parts; not relying on the head to carry the product, but ensuring the rest of the body is well-rounded as well. A particular example is the legs, which swap back and forth between human-like plantigrade, full digitigrade, and digitigrade foot-only. All of these options are available without needing to swap attachments, meaning that text commands or HUD will make the switch. This type of switching proves itself to be speedy and efficient, while using an extremely miniscule amount of script time. As a result, it proves a powerful alternative to fiddling with multiple attachments. We’ll quickly note that the plantigrade feet are well put, but people who prefer their avatars to have a smaller stature will need to shrink them.

The avatar makes use of the moving eyeball attachments that many of us have become familiar with, complete with pupil dilation and other features that a few creators have begun to include with their avatar’s eyes. The eye sheen can be a touch strong, blocking the view of the iris, but just like any other avatar, users can dial back on the eye sheen by increasing its transparency manually.

Unique Features

While the avatar is a big departure from many past Luskwood avatars, the HUD remains the same user-friendly and responsive menu that Lusk customers have become familiar with. One of the neat features is that as you change settings on your face through the HUD, the face is impacted as well.

Now, just before we conclude on the avatar, we’ll talk briefly about the accessories that come with it. Thanks to Apricot Paws, users are treated with a set of legwarmers for the digitigrade legs, as well as armwarmers. There are separate versions of these for the males and females, but users can just select a ‘face’ and change colours of each arm and leg warmer for maximum customisation.

Conclusion

In comparison to their earlier updates of their avatar line, Luskwood has widened the gap between the new and the old with modern techniques in scripting and construction. The result has been an avatar that leapfrogs its predecessor in a major way, while remaining true to a fresher Luskwood style. This is an avatar that looks at home in Second Life, straddling the line between realism and toon comfortably. If you have the earlier Cat, the update is free and should have arrived automatically. Otherwise, for any kitty-lover, this a viable choice of avatar for anyone’s collection.

Total Shift Productions move on and add to their ever expanding list of avatars with the addition of snakes. Electing to produce an anthropomorphic avatar that by it’s basic characteristics is wildly varied and lacks limbs, a project of this kind would surely always be a challenge – but T.S.P give it their best shot.

Overall Impressions

For the most part (and particularly in the head) the textures on the snake avatars are striking, bright, with clear reference to the species that they are interpreting. The diamond scaling is evident in the shading layered over the colours, giving the impression of a bumpier, scaled surface. As pleasant as this is, the trend doesn’t appear to continue in the tail. Whilst the tail lacks a ‘scaled’ appearance, it does continue to reflect the colour scheme present in the rest of the avatar. The legs are textured to a similar quality as the head, mirroring scaled aspects and echoing the patterns found on the specific snake breed. The transitions from skin to attachment are fairly well executed through the use of scaly-looking clothing layers, complimenting a smooth, lightly shaded skin beneath.

The avatar is comprised entirely of sculpts, save for the flexible cone prim tail. The sculpted parts are completed to a pleasant standard, with no visible wrinkling. Each piece is symmetrical where it needs to be, and the overall shape of the face has been clearly researched and referenced. Despite having limbs, the build quality of the face removes all doubt over the species that this creation is conveying.

Right from the start, the snake and cobra avatars are very striking in their appearance. The large head and generally tall structure to the entire avatar lends itself to this.

The style is not magnetised to realism, however, and this allows the creator to emphasise various features to make them stand out, with the understandable artistic license of how to address hands and feet.  The standard snake and cobra avatars walk on spike-tipped legs. Whilst initially rather jarring, this creative decision addresses the question of snake limbs in a fascinating and rather effective way.  The spike itself remains in keeping with the style shown in the large hand claws and pointed teeth.  The legs are comprised of a single attachment each, so there is no pivoting occuring in the ankle with any animation. This means that for the most part, the spike is sturdily in contact with the floor most of the time. The basic shapes present in the face remain true to the species, down to the smallest gap at the front of the muzzle for the snake’s tongue, which is a stationary sculpt  in this particular avatar.

Strengths and Weaknesses

One of this avatar’s main strengths really does come from the quality and unique nature of the heads. They are at once aesthetically pleasing but somewhat intimidating, possibly due to their scaling in comparison to the rest of the body. Both the cobra and ‘regular’ snake varieties have this level of detail. The unusual nature of the legs is also something of an intriguing distraction in their execution. The snake does succeed in creating a slightly terrifying impression overall, which presumably is what the creator was going for. The attention to detail when it comes to looking at each individual snake breed is stunning. Each mark is referenced with accuracy, both in colour and positioning.

The only real area of concern on this avatar is that It does seem as though  transition between the tail base and the skin could also have had the same clothing layer treatment as the rest of the skin to aid in blending. Whilst the colour palette remains accurate,  the sudden change in texture from the body to the tail looks as though it supports a different art style, contrasting from smooth, gentle shading to a more block-colored design.

Unique Features

The snakes do come with a well-illustrated HUD, offering commands for the jaw and the degree to which it opens. There is also a toggle that allows the fangs that would contain the venom canal to either drop down or be tucked away at the wearers discretion.  A page dedicated to eye expressions is also present. Users can toggle these options to tilt the eyelids into varying degrees to convey emotions including but not limited to anger, sadness or confusion

The snake and cobra avatars come with an extra box. The box contains an extremely wide array of alternative eye textures made by Zexen Alecto, which can be easily swapped into your avatar with minimal effort using the build menu and ‘edit linked parts’, selecting each eye. This folder also contains a spare, resizable head for users who may find the standard one a little to small or large for their tastes.

As previously mentioned, all prim transitions are aided with the use of clothing and tattoo layers. This is interesting and unusual.. As it means that the wearer can use any other skin, and make the attachments for the snake blend with the body. The skin alone can support the attachments if users prefers.

This is by no means a generic ‘snake’ with one main skin, and hue-slider variations. A lot of time, research and consideration has gone into each identifiable species. Each have their own unique textures, with some physical differences in shape and size depending on the variety chosen.

The snakes that are currently available are as follows:

• Albino Ball
• Black Headed
• Corn
• Coral
• Piebald
• Cali
• Royal
• Ball
• Red
• SIamese
• King
• Moccasin
• Copper
• Temple

Limited Edition

T.S.P are offering Limited Edition versions of their avatar until the 18th of August, at which point they will not be re-listed. Both variants take on a slightly more dragon-like appearance.The Limited Edition variants, known as Midgard and Kobranukus respectively, are more than simply recolours.

The Midgard avatar sports heavily decorated frills on the sides of the head, legs, arms and tail base. In all, the texturing is a lot more intricate, with highly contrasting colours and original patterning.

The Kobranukus is formed from the cobra shape, but sports spikes within the hood, and in various other places with the inclusion of horns. The fangs are narrower in this version, but also more plentiful. This version supports longer, thicker frontal fangs. Instead of the aforementioned spiked feet, the Kobranukus has reptilian feet, with three splayed toes tipped with claws.

 Conclusion

Total Shift Productions really have provided to a rather niche area of anthropomorphic avatars, as very few thus far have successfully brought snakes into the grid. More importantly, they’ve managed to echo the species well, and whilst this is not an avatar that will blend seamlessly into the growing crowd of reptile avatars, I honestly don’t think it ever intended to from the start. The snakes and cobras are at once enjoyable to wear, and are a must for fans of these wildly varied creatures.

It’s been a little while since we’ve reviewed a fox, so it’s a pleasure to take a look at a toony one, no less. With plenty of spunk and character, this fox would make for a fun addition to any collection.

Out of the Box:

Overall Impressions:

Straight after unpacking, the new owner of this avatar is treated to a very cartoony fox with plenty of character. This is particularly noticeable given that the textures on this avatar are simple, but with plenty of shading and highlights. As a result, the textures ensure that this avatar does not come across as flat, but fleshed out, instead. In the end, the texturing blends this avatar in with its surroundings, but keeps things vibrant enough to ensure it stands firmly with its cartoon heritage.

The build quality for this avatar is solid, with clear cut prims, and little to no creasing. The avatar uses sculpts generously to give the build many sweeping curves. These curves over all of the sculpts gives the avatar a very toony appearance, especially given that they exxagerate the vulpine features into a caricature of the real thing. Thus, for those that particularly enjoy the animated style of Peach Fuzz and other brightly coloured animals, this avatar should not disappoint.

Strengths and Weaknesses

As we spoke to under the last section, this avatar possesses a particular strength in appearing fully textured while remaining undeniably ‘toony’ in its nature. Another area where this avatar performs well is in its facial expressions. As shown in the accompanying photos, this avatar comes complete with a number of different settings for the muzzle, eyes, tongue, and ears. By mixing and matching, this already character-filled fox can convey any number of emotions profoundly, whether it’s joy, confusion, anger, or derision. Users can also change the pupil and iris sizes separately, allowing for a bit more emphasis during emotes. Often it is difficult to include compelling facial expressions on less cartoony avatars, so it is refreshing to see expressions rendered strongly.

The body does well to support the head, which instantly frames itself as the centrepiece of the avatar. The avatar’s limb attachments have a noticeable build quality that we would expect from many creators these days, but remain proportioned and textured well enough to still fit in with the Toon Fox’s theme. A final area where the avatar does well is the tail; it attracts attention easily with its stylised appearance, either arching upwards, downwards, and even towards the side, a tail position that not many creators offer these days.

One unfortunate drawback of this avatar lies in one of its strengths, however. The avatar’s eyeballs are linked to the shape head beneath, which makes the avatar prone to some of the issues that have plagued other creators who’ve used this technique. In particularly, when the avatar is looking far to the left, right, up, or down, it is not uncommon to see one of the eyeballs shift very far inside of the head. As a result, you may notice a blank eye depending on where your camera is focused. While this detracts a bit from the fine finish of the avatar’s well-crafted toony face,  we foresee the Avatar Creator addressing these issues in their future avatars.

Unique Features

As we draw near to the close of our review, we’ll discuss some of the features of this avatar. This avatar does not come with any huge list of features, but it comes with all of the strong basics that many users have come to expect. The Heads-Up Display to the right gives you a better idea of all that is offered, from the positioning of the ears and tail, the choices of facial expressions, and even the ways in which you can colour different parts of the avatar.

Conclusions

The Peach Fuzz Toon Fox is a fun and refreshing take on one of the most popular species among furries. Despite the impressions of many that there are too many fox avatars, there has actually been fairly few of them released on the grid in recent years. Even less have gone so far as to be unashamedly toony and gotten away with it like this one. The issue with the eyeballs aside, if you want a fox with a little bit of spunk, colour and attitude, this avatar should be on your list.