Their sophomore avatar, Rez Fantazy features an array of bear avatars that span from Pandas to Kodiaks. This avatar is unique in that it fills a niche for bipedal bear avatars that often has neglected except for the likes of very few.

Out of the Box:

• Blinking eyes
• Plantigrade and Digitigrade legs
• Color changing eyes
• Twitching ears
• Swishing tail
• Paw Prints
• Sound HUD

Build and Skin

This avatar has reasonably well textured skins that cover the entire body. The skin is shaded and toned to avoid appearing flat. As such, there are contours in areas on the body, for example around the breasts and the sides of the stomach.  Depending on the species of bear that one gets, there will be well painted colourations and patterns to make the user look more like the intended species. For example, a correctly placed patch of light fur on the chest of the Kodiak version makes the avatar look Kodiak-like. In some cases, however, the colouration of the fur may be too dark, which hides the nicely done details on the body.

Next, we move on to the build of the avatar. The foot paws are adequately designed to give the impression of bear claws. The avatar comes with both digitigrade and plantigrade leg attachments (as seen in the above picture). Bears do not naturally have digitigrade legs, but for the users who appreciate them, this is made available to them. The only criticism in this case could be that the digitigrade legs aren’t shaped as well as they could have, instead aiming for a kind of semi-plantigrade-digitigrade stance.

The hand-paws are again similar in design to the feet, and hide the fingers underneath, though they seem to look a bit too much like the foot attachments.  To complete the rest of the body attachments, there is a small bear-tail attached to the bottom. Un-intrusive, the nub is a nice addition to the bear’s overall look.

In general, the build quality is a step up from that of the Capran avatar. Particularly encouraging are the lack of ‘wrinkles’ on all the prim attachments, with the exception of the sides of the toes. This means that the majority of the avatar has a much cleaner and professional look.

However, a few problems unique to this avatar manifest themselves in the avatar’s attachments. First of all, with some shapes, there may be white artifacts that jut out at the heel of the feet. This can be fixed by modifying the “Shoe” attachment that are provided with the avatar. Also important is the mis-alignment of the legs and feet. As seen in the picture, the left leg and foot of the avatar is higher than the right leg. This issue will likely be unnoticed in daily usage except for certain poses and animations, and remedied by the user refitting the legs on a well made pose-stand.

Finally, we discuss the head. in this case, the most defining feature is the muzzle. Large and broad, the muzzle stands out as being bearish against the comparatively smaller eyes. However, an issue that rises is that the eyes are more to the sides of the muzzle rather than above them, which skews the look of the bear a bit. On the other hand, the forehead region of the head is well contoured and slopes smoothly to give a more feral look.

Similar to their Capran avatar however, there is an unfortunate degree of asymmetry in the head. The above picture has been taken from angles of 0, 45, 90, and 180 degrees respectively. Symmetry is important in an Second Life avatar, though tiny imperfections, if used correctly can definitely add to the uniqueness of an avatar head. As this is only the second avatar Rez Fantazy has released, there is no Moving jaw function included, (something the next Puma avatar corrected). However, in listening to their customers, the creator has provided users with two copies of the bear’s head; one with long hair, and a bald one through which they can customise with their own hair.

Features and Heads-Up Display

For this avatar, there is not a huge plethora of features that come with the avatar, hence the lack of need for an advanced HUD. Using /45menu, people can access options to change the eye colour, the automated movement of the ears, and whether they want pawprints to show up in their wake when they walk. There is a HUD included with the avatar, but its function is limited to the sound settings. Using the HUD, the user can choose between a Bear roar or growl.

Conclusion

Rez Fantazy has again attempted to make an avatar for a niche species market that often do not get attention from avatar creators. This avatar is barely two months older than their earlier Capran avatar, but it shows noticeable improvement from its predecessor, yet while bringing its own issues to the fore. As Rez Fantazy seeks to establish themselves in the market, the maturity of their product quality becomes more important. This avatar is not yet up to par with standards that industry leaders have set, though this time not due to inability, but errors in aesthetic and application choices. The upcoming Puma review will show how Rez Fantazy continues to address the shortcomings of their earlier avatars.