See More Avatars from: Lost Furest Creatures

17 Feb 10 | List Price: L$

In time for Halloween and Christmas 2008, Lost Furest Creatures released their first modern iteration of  domestic cats. Now, in their new line of “Lost Furest Evolutions,” the company has re-invented their style and employed new skills in this string of new avatars to replace their previous lines. In this review, we get the opportunity to review the Lost Furest Evolutions Kitty which replaces the now defunct ‘Kristmas Kitty’ line.

Out of the Box:

Measurement	Value
Script Time with HUD	~0.238
Script Time without HUD	~0.238
Avatar Rendering Cost	~3740

• Many different breeds (Russian Blue to Bengal to Siamese etc.)
• Both Male and Female included
  • PG and Mature Skins
• Ear Positions including Twitching
• Prim Eye States and Blink
• Jaw Positions and Expressions
• Clickable Tail Functions
• Tintable Flexi Tails
• Muzzle Talking Function (Voice and Chat)
• 15 Different Pupil Choices (Slitted to Round to O.o to X.X, etc.)
• Kitty Typing AO (bat the keys like a kitty) included in special collar
• Yapper for typing (a yapper is a LF special, emit textures as you type as if you were speaking them)

Build and Skin:

The Lost Furest Evolutions Kitty picks up where the Kritmas Kitty left off; with numerous different available breeds of cat. From Grey Tabbies to Calicos and Siamese, Tuxedo, Russian Blue, Balanese and Bengal, users can take a pick of a more than adequate array of markings. Each of the markings are different from one another, so you won’t exactly see too many similarities between varieties. However, all the feline markings are Made on top of a kind of ‘base’ skin.’

For the most part, this simple base skin provides the shading for the breasts on the female avatar and the average-level definition on the chest and belly of the avatar. It also provides shading for the legs, the back of the shoulders, and even the kneecaps. This same archetypal base skin is responsible for the separations of ‘colours’ on the avatar on the chest as well as buttocks of the avatar. All of the textures are clean and clear-cut, most especially on the head.

The avatar comes with both the male and female shapes and hairs, alongside a mature skin for both sexes. The males receive genitals and nipples while males have smaller nipples. To avoid the stick-on nipple effect, a little fur covers the top of the nipples of both sexes. Otherwise, all of the varieties of Kitty are true to the original breeds of domesticated cat with vibrant colours and markings.

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

The feet are, at first appearance rather conventional in design; four toed-paws tipped with shiny black claws. Inbetween the tops of the toes, there is the start of a theme that we’ll see across this avatar; plenty of semi-transparent fluff. On the underside of the paw we have the obligatory cat’s paw; which we find in black or in pink depending on the breed of cat the user has chosen. However, there is something pretty unique about the paw design on this avatar which we frankly have not seen on any other avs we have reviewed so far. In short, this avatar is digitigrade without using leg attachments to make it so. The rear of the foot arches slightly upwards off of the ground to show that the avatar stands on its toes. While it could benefit from a slight bit more pronounced arch, we take note of this neat and commendable effort at something new. Above the back of the leg is a texture ‘fluff’ attachment with a few prim fluff pieces which provide a well-rounded, fluffy appearance.

The hand-paw attachments follow suit with the foot with the same basic construction, but more paw-like than hand-like, the exception being  the included opposable thumb. The underside has a full compliment of feline paw-pads while transparent fluff lines in-between the fingers. From the elbow to the wrist we find another fluffy semi-transparent attachment just like the shins of the leg.

At last, before we touch on the head; the tail comes in two flexible varieties. One is a slim tail which uses a lower amount of semi-transparent fluff prims, while the other is far thicker and fluffier. There is not much of a difference in between the two for avatars with simple tail-patterns. But on more complex varieties of Kitty, (as seen on the tabby above), the fluffier tail has a few alpha texture clipping issues which makes it less clear-cut and as aesthetic than the slim tail. Users are able to change a number of tail movements by clicking on the tail.

This avatar has a more than normal amount of fluff around different areas of the neck, sorted into two separate attachments. The first is a little bit of prim fluff that covers some of the back, drapes over the shoulders, and encroaches on the top of chest a little bit. The other is far more noticeable; a ‘cheek fluff’ which frames the entire lower cheeks and covering the entirety of the avatar’s neck. In short, the result is an almost mane-like array of fluffy hair which serves the avatar well. Of course, for some, this mane may be a little much, so they can choose to not wear it as seen in the picture below (bottom right). If you do go without the ‘mane,’ you will need to make shape modifications since the head looks a great deal smaller and the neck looks very long without.

The main characteristic that draws focus is that of the eyes. On this avatar, they are large and quite captivating with bright colour and an array of pupil and eye-shine types. Users are able to choose from round pupils and slit pupils of various lengths and dimensions, but also, users are given the ability to choose from some more unique eye-textures, like one that literally emulates the ” O.o” or “o.O’ expression (Top-Right in Photo to the Right). Other choices allow users to wear a X.X expression or even a robotic eye kind of eye with only a coloured, full-bright center. Additionally, users can apply up to 7 different eye ‘shine’ textures; from stars to hearts (Bottom-right in Photo to the Right), as shown in the accompanying picture.

The eyeballs move through scripted automation which does a good job of giving the eyes solid movement. While these are not as expressive as the preceding Kristmas Kitty, they are a great deal more alive and realistic. Users can also choose different eye-states through the HUD.

Another defining trait of the feling’s face is the ears; for this avatar, they are very tall and wide. The shape is distinctly feline and does extremely well at reflecting the shape of domesticated cat ears with ample texturing to fit with the rest of the body. The user is able to choose among multiple different states for the ears; including folded back, down, or perked straight up. Some users, however, will prefer the ears a smaller.

The other key part of the avatar is the muzzle. Tipped by a medium to bright pink nose, the muzzle is stereotypically feline in shape and contour. In general, the shape is mostly like a rounded out box which channels its real world influence very neatly. Everything from the nose to the sides of the muzzle and the whiskers are very well textured with continuity and painted furriness.

The interior of the muzzle follows suit, with the jaw articulating with the head perfectly. Inside the mouth you find a full compliment of feline teeth and fangs. Additionally, the roof of the mouth is neatly textured and the tongue inside the muzzle is sculpted for extra detail. The user can stick their tongue out using the HUD, but these employ flat texture-prims rather than sculpts.

It should be mentioned that as part of the Muzzle-Talking function of the avatar, when users enable this option, the muzzle emits little “=MEOW=” from the muzzle in a string of particles. This actually has quite a cute effect when the particles fully rez. Users can replace the meows with other provided textures from the creator in an accompanying notecard. However, for those who might not like the particle chat, to turn it off, the user has to either remove the prim on the bottom lip that emits the particles, or at least, set the scripts inside to “Not Running.” This is one area the avatar could have benefited from an On/Off toggle in the HUD.

Finally, the head has its own fluff lining the sides of the cheeks just in case the user decides to leave out the large fluff-mane that borders under the chin. These give the rest of the face a more dimension outside of perfectly smooth cheeks.  At last, we’ll have to take mention of the array of thin whiskers lining the sides of the muzzle and just above the eyes help to round out the general impression of the domestic cat’s face.

Features and Heads-Up Display (HUD):

The bulk of features that come with this avatar are accessed mostly through the HUD, while those that pertain to the eyeballs themselves are accessible only through text commands.

HUD controls:

• Eye-Width State
• Individual Ear State (Up, Down, Perked, etc.)
• Muzzle Talking Function Toggle On/Off
• Tongue In/Out Toggle

*To Access the 2 States of Mouth openness, you must turn off the Muzzle-Talking Function or the mouth will close automatically after hitting the custom rotation button

Text command controls:

• Eye Colour
• Eye Pupils
• Eye Shine Type

As well, users receive a cute collar that replaces the back/shoulder fluff. With a little heart locket on a chain; this heart cycles through colours on its own. When wearing this collar, the avatar animates further during Muzzle-Talking with a kind of paw-paw-pawing animation.

Customisation:

This avatar is readily able to be modified due to its copy-modifiable nature. The default state for the avatar is female; but users can unpack a little mouse box found inside the avatar folder to access the male hair, shape, and PG and mature skins. The head is a little bit wider, so some third-party hairs might be a little difficult to use on it. But with a little tweaking, most hairs should be able to fit. Do keep in mind that the new type of feet which incorporate a digitigrade build may be a little difficult to wear pant layers with; prim pant/trouser-cuffs will remedy this.

Conclusion:

The Lost Furest Evolutions Kitty shows what the Lost Furest Creatures creators have been able to do in the years that they have been building avatars. With a new design style and execution of sculpts, Lost Furest has successfully updated the Kristmas Kitty and defined a new direction that they wish to take their avatars. People who desire an anthropomorphic domestic feline can easily consider this as one of a few choices which portray the species well.

This review was written by Forepawz - Contributor and Senior Editor | Filed under Avatar Reviews, Lost Furest Creatures
Tagged cat, domestic, feline, kristmas, kristmas kitty, lfe, lost furest, lost furest evolutions.