Kinzart Kreetures Serval

Posted on: 21 Jul ’09

Adding a second feline avatar to their catalogue, Kinzart has decided on recreating this mid-sized cat. In this review we check out the spunky Serval from Africa.

Out of the Box:

Scripted ears that twitch, and turn on typing when twitching is active/ 3 Default position settings
Dynamic dual color blinking eyes with Dilation controlled via a Slider on the HUD
Talk Jaw controlled via Voice or Text, with a manual rotation override.
Stick your tongue in or out
Hands with 7 expressive poses
Hands and feet have retracting claws
Solid tail that goes up or down, and a Flexible tail that wags
Male and female skins, Mature Female skin
Male and Female Shapes
Tintable male and female hairstyles, separate from the heads to make modding easier

Build and Skin:

This avatar follows up on Kinzart’s ability to create believable textures on their skins and attachments. The textures over the skin and attachments are mostly just spots and stretched spots, but there are some series of arm and upper-leg bands that circle from the back to the front. The stripes and spots are varied in size and intensity, with the markings most detailed and patterned on the back of the torso. Otherwise, the colours are warm, and in areas devoid of spots, such as the chest and belly, there is sufficient muscle tone and colour variation.

This avatar comes with both the male and female shape, skins, and hair. Female users receive both a PG and an Adult skin. Both are different from the male skin in that there is extra detailing around the breasts, with the Adult skin obviously containing more adult features (i.e. nipples and a female genital texture). The male comes with a short and trendy haircut, while females would get hair tied back into double-ponytails.

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

Moving to the attachments, we first observe that the feet are generally smaller than most avatar feet; the creator has opted to use a sculpted invisiprim to hide the avatar foot and make a more rounded and completely feral-looking Serval paw. This makes the foot more proportionally sized to the body and creates a smooth visual transition from the foot paw to the digitigrade leg. The digitigrade legs reflect the same style as the earlier released Kinzart Fox, but have some spots on them which taper off towards the foot.

The hand-paws are similar to the feet, and reuse the Animation Overriding method to bunch the fingers of the hands under the attachment together. This means that without using invisiprims, full-prim paws can be used without any clipping of the shape hands. The claws on the hand paws as well as the foot paws can be sheathed and unsheathed through the HUD. Finally, the tail comes in two forms; one sculpted and one made of flexi prims. The sculpted tail curls slightly upward with well-textured stripes, while the flexible tail uses the same texture but with flexible prims.

At last we reach the head. Kinzart has taken a different approach to their eyes, building on that of their Fox once again. This avatar again features the ability for the user to choose two different colours for their eyes; one for the main iris, the other for the highlighting colour surrounding the pupil. We address this more in-depth later. For now, we will mention that the eyes are wide and draw attention to them. Their placement in the head avoids some of the occasional issues with the Fox eye movement.

The muzzle is relatively flat and boxy with a steep incline from the forehead to the tip of the well rounded nose. The muzzle on this avatar is different compared to earlier avatars like the Tiger or the Wolf particularly because the muzzle expression is more neutral and further from a frown. While on the mouth, it should be mentioned that the interior of the mouth is well made, with teeth, tongue and even a uvula. It seems that the uvula is quickly becoming a body part of concentration for certain av creators.

Perched atop the head are very prominent ears as are indigenous to the species, with sculpted fur tufts on the interior of the ear to create an illusion of fluffiness. These attract a lot of attention as well, a successful part of the avatar’s ability to channel its inspiration species. The cheeks are framed with three rows of textured torii for fluffiness themselves. A final detail of the head are the obligatory whiskers over the eyes and on the muzzle. If the user opts not to wear a third-party hair, users can see the stripes and spots along the back of the bare scalp. A small issue with the head is that sometimes the slightest wrinkle of the head prim occurs only during blinking. Fortunately, this is not particularly noticeable unless one is anal-retentive (like myself).

Features and Heads Up Display (HUD):

The avatar’s functions are entirely commanded by the HUD, though a large degree of them are available through text-commands as well. These text commands are listed in the Instruction Manual notecard. The HUD is basically a square with soft edges, a Serval drawing staring at the user in the foreground over an African savannah at dusk.

The functions are separated in rows, users can directly modify the hand state of the left and right hand-paws, Ear position, Toggle Ear Twitchiness, Modify Eye State, Toggle the Tongue, Tail state, Tailwag toggle, and choose whether to sheath or unsheath both the hand-paws and the foot-paws. Also available are the abilities for the user to use touch-drag mechanisms to set mouth wideness, change the eye colours (both iris and iris shadow), eye glow, and Pupil size. These are clearly marked out so that people an see them more clearly.

In general, this avatar comes with a few new features that compliment the avatar compared to previous releases by Kinzart. However, these added functions mean that the HUD is more at risk of clutter. The new HUD accommodates all of this better than previous ones, though for users with a very high resolution screen, the writing can seem a touch too small.

Customisation:

Like most avatars these days, this one is customisable with both mod-copy settings. The hairs offered are among some of the best that we have seen included with an avatar, but users may enjoy using their own third-party hair. Thanks to the steep slope between forehead and nose, third-party hairs are relatively easier to fit on the head.

Conclusion:

This avatar is a strong representation of a Serval, and has many features that make it fun for anyone to wear. The head in particular is a nod to some of the modern techniques of avatar creation while taking a step towards more pleasant facial expressions on the face. With personality and catty eyes, the avatar is a complete package.

Before I leave this avatar, I should mention that I have become aware of allegations that the design of this avatar has been a theft of other creators. As Editor-in-Chief I would like to express that as an objective publication, we have dedicated ourselves to reviewing avatars with an unbiased eye regardless of issues between competitors. Any concerns pertaining to such issues should be left in the comments or directly addressed to the parties involved.

Thank You.

Written by Forepawz

Fore has been a resident of Second Life since 2005. In 2008, he co-founded SLARF to connect SL users with the right avatars for them. He currently fulfills a role as the Editor, Photographer, and Videographer. If you see the Corgi around the grid, say hello, will you?

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Similar Reviews

:3

I think the main issue with this avatar (to do with the allegations), is the fact that the eye’s especially seem to be a direct copy of the felis/ring tail eyes created by Uchi. Placed side by side when dismantled the prim placement and textures are almost identical. Other reasons for this avatar specifically is the overall look, while close to the real thing, still shows a strong resemblance to the creator “Aventity” (although much more detailed than the older avatar.) Like the nose texture, overall shape ect. (which company seems to be a steeple for Kinzarts inspiration for already created avatars, this has been apparent especially while on the teen grid, especially with avatars like her Husky, wolf, and later fox.)
That reaches the other reason where more allegations pop up towards her lately , including the foxes created also to look rather close to a different creators style Aventity, and probably the easiest one to see the inspiration. (again, placing the legs, hands feet and tails side by side, it is hard to see the difference in style apart from the fact the older avatar is prims, while the new are sculpts.)

Kinzart (or more so, the creator Sylver bu) has always been subject to rumors such as content theft and idea theft (it is even stated on her SL wiki), even before it moved to the main grid. She has made things like the “Dazzle bat” which was a pretty close copy to the MI crux at the time, but because of Second lifes way of dealing with content theft, was able to carry on.
And this seems to show, that the main issue is of idea/ practice and style assimilation other than outright theft, which really makes this sort of thing hard to argue or defend either way.
Sylver Bu

I always enjoy reading these reviews, whether for my own or another developer. These reviews make an excellent nuetral resource for casual buyers and collectors alike. It certainly makes it easier for someone to come to their own conclusions as to whether or not they wish to add a particular avatar to their collection.

A shame though that so many seem perfectly happy adding more drama to the already puss filled culdrin. I’ve long since resolved the drama with the Dazzle bats with Malluch personally, and as for the Fox and Serval, I find it funny that people often dont take a few minutes out of their day to research these animals and watch the Discovery Channel. Aventity doesn’t hold copyrights over these creatures. Mephitis is a wonderful creator and like others, I hold great pride in the avatars I’ve purchased from them over the last several months.

And the eyes? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that I’ve duplicated Uchi’s design. He’s a genious- an absolute genious, and I wont deny that I borrowed the idea. His are still far better executed though! I used the felis eyes for my personal dragon mod

All that aside, these reviews are very wonderful! I’m glad to see that the HUD was a little more forgiving this go around. I’m still trying to figure out the whole HUD thing.. ^^;
Orlith

It amazes me how people can claim copywrite of a creature in nature. Last time a checked perhaps the only persone who could claim copywrite on nature was God. If so we have all copied from it, from aerodynamics for planes to numerous other things. Would hate to see God claim his copywrite, we would all be screwed.

Now i own a few Aventity avis, and many others i picked along the way. think i have 3 versions of Huskies alone. and not going to start on my dragons i lost count past 200. I don’t see others claiming copywrite over the various dragons.

At the end of the day Sylver Bu no doubt put hell of alot of effort into sculpting as close to nature as she can and texture wise she mush spend ages making it fit to the sculptur (havin tried scuplts myself. its nit as easy as sculpting and whacking any old texture on there). Then lets her creativity out on the different skin shades for her customers to have greater choice.

I am proud to own her avis.
Nichole

The point that was made in the first comment has been lost by both creator and defender.
It has nothing to do with similarities to the species in question, the avatars from two creators could be textured identical to the spot and color placement to a photo of a living animal, but still look different. Because what the real issue is, is an application of –style-

An artist’s style is recognizable and is what defines their product, and the reason Sylver has people keep bringing back “puss filled drama.” Is the fact she does not take this into consideration.
She has large amounts of talent, but needs to find an avatar style of her own. Having identical prim eyes and textures to Uchi (and as a note, I wonder if she even asked the creator Uchi if he minded her copying his eye technique completely and if he is ok with it? While perhaps he can not stop her, it does make it look similar to a Chinese knock off. People will buy it yes, but it doesn’t mean others agree, or that what has been copied is right.), or Identical leg sculpts and ANTHRO hand paw style and foot style to Mephitis is not a “open your eyes up to the species of animal.” Issue. It is a “open your eyes up, you are using someone’s else’s style to interpret a living animal” issue.
All the other avatar makers have not run into this issue, for they have developed their own style.

Style is what makes you unique, not just how good you are at learning new techniques.
But because people like Sylver are successful at what they are doing, and are used to brushing critique off. They will never learn, and will always tread on others toes.
It is really unfortunate, because if she just took these facts into consideration, she would do even better than how she is now, and this sort of thing would never be brought up again.
Laser

Regarding eyes: This same technique for creating realistic eyes has been used for years by 3D artists around the world. It was described in a SIGGRAPH paper in the mid 1990s by a Pixar artist. Just because Uchi did it in SL first, does not mean that he in any way pioneered the technique.

Regarding style: I do not know for certain about anyone else, but I can recognize avatar makers products by their style, Kinzart included. I would never confuse an Aventity avatar for a KZK. That said, style is almost entirely subjective. If anyone confuses the two, perhaps they need to look at their own subjective analysis of what their eyes see.

Regarding imitation (not direct copying): Imitation has never been prohibited by law, and up until very recently was not considered distasteful. This is how most of the world’s classical artists trained; by imitating and improving on the work of those who came before, eventually surpassing their mentors. There are provisions in patent law even, for you to take someone else’s idea, improve upon it, and re-patent it yourself. This is the same reason you cannot own copyright on the plot of a story, only your precise words. It is obvious that no direct copying of form, function, or style (beyond what has come to be accepted as normal in SL) has occurred, and that should end the story.

Disclaimer: I have not purchased any avatars from any of these vendors, but I have seen and directly compared all of the avatars around which the recent complaints have been made.
http://www.flamesoulis.com Flame

Syl does have her own style, and it really annoys me that everyone has to whine about it.

What many people have forgotten are the Thells, which belong to Sylver. Though they are much older than the other AVs Sylver currently sells, her style is shown there, and there is no other avatar creator that has made anything that resembles a Thell. From what I can see, that style has always carried on with the other avatars, and for people to point fingers at something that has always been that way truly disgusts me. If you cannot simply look at the facts or do your research (which, for this time and age, is a task very little do in the first place), then don’t bother complaining.

We have enough noise as it is with people moaning and groaning about every little problem we’ve had with new releases, and for propaganda to further continue is a true waste of air (and for those who like being total jerks, waste of bandwidth).
Taci

May I just ask where the screenshots for this review were taken? The african landscape and the shot in the rain look wonderful.
- Forepawz – Contributor and Senior Editor
  
  Hello Taci, these were taken in the Virtual Africa sims. It’s a four-sim estate with good African scenery from the right spots and angles.
  Here’s the SLurl.
  http://slurl.com/secondlife/Virtual%20Africa/140/84/23
  
  There’s another African themed sim, but it’s less interesting and far less photogenic because you find a lot of people making out, dancing and riding horses.
Ben

I watched Sylver make some of these avs from scratch, and I think she definitely has her own style. honestly anyone that can confuse her work with Aventity or MI or even EXL needs to seriously look into whether they’re looking to see the differences, or trying to defend their opinions.

The Serval didn’t impress me as much as the fox did, thus i’m still pondering buying it (the exl therion just put that behind a bit, heh) but i’m honestly waiting to see if Bu will make a houscat or bat
http://www.flamesoulis.com Flame

Back on the Teen Grid, Sylver did make some house cats and bats, but the story with the bats is that people whined the looked like Mutation Industry’s Bat so she had to remove them since the complaints were becoming too annoying and were also causing some violence in the grid. As for the house cats, they were simply not sold on the Main Grid =P
Laila Lorakeet

As Pablo Picasso is famously said to have uttered – “Good Artists Borrow, Great Artists Steal”
Artists have been influenced by one other all throughout history. Its how art develops into something new. Take the impressionist paintings for example. Monet, Manet, Renoir… all had similar styles of painting, and they were no doubt influenced by one another (its not like they all spontaneously decided to start painting that way is it?) They drew from styles of their peers, assimilating and building on the elements that interested them most, and thus developing their own styles.
What I’m trying to say, is give Sylver a break! SL sure has a lot of avatar snobbiness going on. This avatar is beautifully made and its obvious alot of care and attention has went into it. I just hope all this rubbish doesn’t put Sylver isn’t put off making more feline avatars in the future, because the girl has talent, and as a cat enthusiast this is one of my favourite avatars.
Sol Invictus

Gosh, why do people always think Sylver stole stuff from aventity? Aventity’s serval sucks in my opinion, I have no idea why you guys think they’re alike..This one has so much detail and the body shape and legs are tolerable, and so what if the eyes are placed similar to uchi’s ringtail? Yeah? And who cares if the textures are alike? So what? I don’t see where she stole anything.

Quit whining and complaining about every little thing. *facepalm* Well, thats the internet for ya.