Ninjaweasel Studios’ Rodent

Their Second predominantly Sculpted avatar, the NinjaWeasel Rodent is a fresh update from its predecessor avatar which is still available at a marked down price. Packed with features, the avatar displays an expressive, fluid rat that stays true to NWS’s notable style.

Out of the Box:

• Price: 1200L
• Available in either Male or Female Versions
• Assorted Colour Combinations
• An open-source Jaw Movement Script by Whinge Dagger which allows the lower jaw of the rat to move in response to both typing and voice chat.
• A Heads Up Display (HUD) which
  • Allows one to change settings for the ears
  • Turn on or off tail swishing action
  • Open Eyes, Close Eyes, and Change Eye Colour
• Eyes that move at random
• Predominantly sculpted head, hands and feet attachments
• Flexible tail and whiskers
• Fully modifiable
  • Free, Open-Source Eye and Jaw Movement Scripts

Build and Skin

When I first put on the avatar, I was immediately reminded of the old cartoons I had watched as a child, (Disney’s Great Mouse Detective™) which was nice. The avatar in its entirety gives the impression of a true rat despite the cartoon quality assigned to it.

Special mention needs to be given tot he hands and the feet of the avatar. First of all, the hands and feet are sculpted to give the respective parts a smooth and realistic look to them, as opposed to thick paw-pads or the sausage-finger phenomena that follows most prim-based hand attachments. The head is fully sculpted as well; which cuts down on the number of primitives that the Second Life Client must rez in order to fully show the head, which makes it a fast avatar to load.

In particular mention of the head; the lower jaw and the head itself are attached to completely different attachment points of the avatar, yet give the impression of an entire head; rather than that of a segmented look that some other avatars with movable jaws might have. This is particularly good because it adds to the sleek, ‘whole’ look of the rat’s head instead of the sharp distinctions and articulations of prims making up the face.

The Skin is well detailed with shading that shows definition and tone over the entire body. The Vendors offer both solidly coloured avatars (Such as the Grey Variety shown above) and “Hooded” rats in combinations of white, grey, black, creams, and browns.

 

It’s noteworthy that the detail to the tail really adds to the likeness of a rat; though it is wished that the tail looked more smooth and contoured; but this is by no means the fault of the Avatar Creator, but the limitations of the Second Life client in rezzing smooth-looking flexible prims.

Customisability

This avatar is indeed customisable, given that it has both copy and mod permissions, however, given that the style is rather unique and the head is larger than the default human head size, it may be difficult to add accessories made for more realistically proportioned avatars to this one

Conclusion

My favourite aspect of the avatar has to be the lower jaw; one honestly gets the impression that it’s really talking; what with the movement of the arms and hands coupled together with darting eyes. While some people may prefer much thinner whiskers, I don’t think you can really get much thinner while keeping the flexibility of each one. The avatar is truly worth the 1200L it costs to get it; it’s a keeper

In all, the avatar really does convey the idealised image of a rat; sneaky eyes, yellowed teeth, and a slightly overweight-looking avatar shape. Look below for more photos.