Released for Halloween 2009, the Kinzart bat has provided a new rendition of the iconic flying rodent. Meant to be used as both a Leafed-Nose Bat or a Flying Fox Bat, this particular avatar shows off a few new features and skills to their repertoire.

Out of the Box:

• Twitching Ears Including turning when typing, and 4 ear states
• Male and Female Shapes and Tintable Hair
  • Mature Female Skin
• 3 Eyebrow expressions
• Two-Tone Eyes with 4 Pupil Choices
• Toggle Leaf-Nosed Bat or Flying Fox Bat Nose
• Facial Expressions (Smile and Frown)
• Talking Jaw Function
• Tongue In/Out Toggle
• Two Wing Types (Shoulder and Arm-Wing)
  • Two-Tone Wing Membrane
  • Open/Close Manual Override
• Hands with 7 Position Settings
• Curling Feet with Manual Override
• Flight Animation Overrider
• Tree Attachment that the avatar hangs from

Measurement	Value
Script Time with HUD	~0.415
Script Time without HUD	~0.250
Avatar Rendering Cost	~973-1089

Build and Skin:

As bats have simple fur patterns, most of the detail has gone into making the textures look fuzzy, while on the other hand making smooth and clear divisions in the patterns bats DO have. The result is an organic skin that gives the fur a fuzzy, ruffled appearance, and believable transitions between fur colours. Most of the skins are recolours of the same basic pattern; but the Flying Fox Colouration is the only one to show any significant deviation in patterning. The pictures below display this.

Take Notice: The pictures under this link are rated Mature – Click here to view the Female Adult Skin

The feet are built to be generically ‘rodent-like’; you’ll find a human-like sole, but with thick, wrinkly skin, and long and thin digits that make the feet look more feral and bat-like than human. The claw-tipped paws then get furry near the heel leading up to the plantigrade leg attachment. The plantigrade leg attachments introduce a little ‘fluff’ to the back of the leg and seamlessly merge with the lower leg. The fluff is included in the actual sculpts of the plantigrade leg, saving prims and using a minimal amount of torii. The design of the hands are altogether very similar to that of the feet, though definitely more hand-like than foot-like. The pose-able hands are made of the same tough, wrinkled skin and segue to arm attachments similar to that of the legs.

The tail is slim and very simple, as well as static. I would seriously doubt that bats wag their tails in any way, so other than the fluff at the base of the tail for decoration, there is nothing else to it.

Next, we move onto the wings. Kinzart has offered users two options; the ability to either wear the wings on the back (6-limbed option), or wear wing-flaps on the arms (4-limbed option). Both come with different animations as chosen by the HUD.

Back Wings

These wings attach to the shoulder points on the back. When the user is not flying; the wings fold behind the back. The wings stand on their own as an entirely unique part of the avatar. An arm-like structure extends from between the shoulder-blades to a hand-like formation where the wing starts. Particular note is given to how the wings are formed from the digits, but that a single free digit remains at the base of the wings, much like a real-world bat. The membrane that makes up the wing between the digits is thin and translucent, but is given shading and colour to look like skin.

When the avatar begins flight, the Animation overrider takes over. The folded wings go invisible, and the fully extended wings become opaque. The animation overrider provides a smooth, competent flapping motion when idle, and a simple dive when you stop flying.

Arm Wings

For those who wish to fly using arm-wings on the other hand, these are available. This option consists of basically separate digits of wing connected to the wrist of the arms, but still keeps the actual ‘hand-paws’ free for use. This option looks a little strange because the wing is attached to only the forearm rather than the full arm. This is because since bat wings are relatively simple and bare, there is nothing like feathers that could be used to cover gaps as the arms moved around the joints.

Regardless, despite an excellent flying animation that rivals that of the shoulder-wings, the wings do not look as impressive in flight as those on the shoulders. In all, however, users wishing to use this option still get a very solid performance and look out of the arm wings.

A lot of emphasis has been placed on fluff on the shoulders, which ultimately lends to a bat-like appearance; especially when the avatar has its arms folded around itself and it is hanging upside down. An added effect is the extra fluff that was placed on each shoulder, shifting slightly as the wings flap.

The head is rather unique, with both the Leaf-Nosed Bat nose or a Flying Fox Bat nose available as options. The Leaf-Nose is quite the landmark on the muzzle, successfully changing the face. The other focal point on the avatar would be the eyes; in particular, they come with 4 different choices that give the head a different quality. Users can even choose to have no pupil and change the brightness and glow for an eerie effect.

Moving back to the muzzle, the interior is well detailed, complete with a triangular tongue and a uvula; as well as a full compliment of  sharp teeth. The build quality matches that of the texture quality, producing a smooth and detailed muzzle and jaw. The ears are yet another focal point of the face, tall and concave and the skin is folded in the right places in tribute to real bats. Some, however, may wish the ears to have been larger to reflect their real-world proportions, but there really should not be any problems resizing them if that is an issue for a user.

Heads up Display (HUD) and Features:

The avatar is controlled entirely by the HUD, but the text commands for the functions are all listed in the Accompanying Documentation with the avatar. The HUD/Text Command Controls are as follows:

Page 1:

• Ear State (Up, Down, etc.), Ear Turning when Typing Toggle, Ear Twitching
• Mouth Smile/Frown, Mouth Expression, Tongue In/Out Toggle
• Eye State, (Open, Squint, etc.), Eyebrow Expression (Angry, Sad, Neutral)
• Wings (Open/Close)
• Nose (Leaf/Flying Fox Nose)
• Hand Position Setting (Flip the bird, point, etc.) for Each Hand
• Feet (Curled, Flat, Auto)

Page 2:

• Left and Right Eye Pupil Choices
• Colour/Glow Settings for the Outer Wing, Inner Wing, and Two-Toned Eyes
• Jaw Rotation
• Animation Overrider Options

An extra feature that adds a fun dimension to the avatar is the tree attachment, that once the wearer puts it on, they are flipped upside down and hanging off of the tree with their arms wrapped around themselves. Many will not recognise that the tree is actually an attachment. The only downside is that if the user is moved, so is the tree. Some users may wish that they could hang upside down without the tree with a text command or a poseball, but still others can do this themselves.

Customisation:

The Kinzart Kreetures bat is readily customisable, with copyable and modifiable permissions. As the head is fairly small and more oval than sphere, users should not have a major issue finding third-party hairs that can be used on the head. The provided hairs are also textured white, so users can tint them to any colour they wish.

Conclusion:

The Kinzart Kreetures Bat is a well-rounded interpretation of the flying creatures that joins other unique renditions of bats already in the avatar market. This avatar also shows the progression that the creator has taken towards developing their facial expression ranges, which in turn gives their avatars more character.  Whether as a novelty avatar or as a full-use avatar, users will have plenty of material to customise, as well as functionality.