Today, we review the PsiCorp Dalmatian. This avatar has been out for a while, so we’re a bit late in getting to it. PsiCorp has created a few avatars with a distinct design, but with fur that had held back their avatars. In this review, we discuss whether their new texturing capabilities have progressed.

Out of the Box:

Features	Permissions and Statistics
Seven different colorations to choose from A wide range of facial expressions Male and Female Shapes and Skins Leg Attachments available per gender Hand emotes, custom emotes are possible Lifetime free updates Special features for viewer 2.0 users (Avatar transparency masks & non-invisiprim legs) Digitigrade & Plantigrade legs	Copiable Modifiable Non-Transferable Avatar Rendering Cost (ARC) 1000

Build and Skin:

• A weak point of prior PsiCorp avatars was the skin. With this avatar, PsiCorp has actively sought to improve on that with a new texturing style. As you can see from the photo below, the result has been a slightly clearer fur pattern, but altogether, a much, much softer, yet still detailed fur texture. Because of this method, then, the fur looks less like a steel brush and more like believable impression of fur. We commend PsiCorp for this improvement. We will admit that the spots needed to be a little bit clearer, but not necessarily sharper as with previous PsiCorp avatars. There’s ample shading to accent areas such as the abs and other areas of the body, and the texturing is continuous across both the body shape and the attachments; a first we’ve seen from PsiCorp.

• Build-wise, the construction is fairly sound, with minimal knobbling or creases. Altogether, the sculpt quality is well done. The build is symmetrical and does not appear sloppy in any way.

Observations:

Body:

• This avatar comes with both plantigrade and digitigrade attachments. Additionally, the creator still goes out of their way to include alternative plantigrade and digitigrade legs for each sex. That is, there is 4 sets of legs, for which people can select and use. The result is slightly more petite leg attachments for females, and slightly larger attachments for the males. In a box, users can unpackage the appropriate leg attachments and alpha layers instead of using the Invisiprim-equipped versions.
• Both forms of leg (i.e. plantigrade and digitigrade) are solid and function well. The textures accent the structure of the digitigrade legs decently, and the transition between the attachment and the avatar’s body shape leg is smooth. The only criticism we can really place for the lower body would be a suggestion of refinement; slimming down the width of the feet at the back to smoothen the foot-to-leg transition a bit more.

• Tail-wise, the PsiCorp Dalmatian uses a simple flexible prim. The textures match the body appropriately with its spottiness, and as such, this form of tail works well for the avatar. Users can wag the tail, or change its position using the HUD or text commands.
• Next up, the hands. These hands are generally similar to that of the German Shepherd and Fox hands we’ve reviewed before, with hand poses. The default is a relaxed pose, while users can choose between a variety of hand poses; such as “Rock, Paper, and Scissors” or flipping someone the middle finger. Users can have one or both hands employ these expressions.

Head:

• The head shares a similarity in appearance to the PsiCorp German Shepherd, but there is indeed a different in its design. For one, the muzzle is a bit more pointed and thinner, reflecting a Dalmatian’s facial structure a bit better. The nose is well made and textured, though perhaps a bit too thin. However, the addition of lightening fur to show some skin at the tip of the muzzle is a great touch to the avatar. The facial textures were well thought out; with the spots well textured over the face.
• The interior of the mouth contains great sculpts, a good tongue structure and a great compliment of teeth; but we’ll admit that the tongue is the somewhat weakest textured part of the avatar. The texture repeat is a bit too high, and it the texture itself doesn’t seem tongue-like.
• That leaves us with the eyes. The eyes are pretty much the same as we’ve seen with the last two PsiCorp avatars we’ve discussed. Unique in their own design, the eyes come with a sort of misty look, brightly textured irises, and dark pupils. The eyeballs are attached to the avatar shape, so the eyes will follow the cursor. Some may not appreciate the eye sheen, but they can easily manually increase the transparency of the prims covering the eyes.
• Finally, the ears are the typical Dalmatian floppy ears. They’re positioned a bit more towards the front of the head, making them look at home in just the right position.
• A small criticism is that the head relies on invisiprims to give it its shape; meaning that the prim will sometimes conflict with hairs and whatnot. To avoid this, you can wear the included Alpha layer mask, then remove this alpha prim in the head.
• The only real large criticism we can offer on the head is similar to that we’ve mentioned for the feet; a little more refinement. The head shape overall could be a little bit more organic and slightly less spherical. Some more shapely contours and smoother transitions between the head and the neck, the muzzle and the face, and other such details will go a long way with future avatars.

Features and Heads-Up Display (HUD):

• One of the strength of PsciCorp avatars is their scripting abilities and HUDs, as we’ve mentioned before. As before, PsiCorp ditches notecard-based guides in favour of formatted, easy-to-read online manuals. This manual can be accessed here: http://kb.psicorp.us/index.php?title=Dalmatian_Avatar

• One of the most integral parts to this avatar would have to be the facial expressions. This avatar comes with a highly expressive preset facial expressions, as well as the ability to adjust specific settings like mouth-openness, tongue in/out, etc. The photo above shows this.

Customisation:

The avatar comes modifiable and copiable, so it isn’t very difficult to make customisations. However, users who wish to fit third-party hairs may have some difficulty because of the head’s unique shape.

Conclusion:

The PsiCorp Dalmatian is one of the better avatars we’ve reviewed from this company. Buoyed more by the new texture methods than the actual construction of the avatar, that leaves only refinement of physical features of their future avatars a new task. PsiCorp has definitely got a unique style which some folks may appreciate more than others, but at the same time, the same could be said for just about any other avatar creator. All the same, it’s neat to see another take on Dalmatians in the market. Alongside being the strongest avatar we’ve seen from PsiCorp, we hope that the creator continues the good work of improving their style.