Certainly less prominent than mammalian species, avians are usually ignored. Tokushi worked on Corvids originally, but seemed to have gone on to incorporate many other unique species of birds alongside the Corvids. In this review, we cover their Corvid avatars, and a few of the special species of our fine feathered friends.

Out of the Box:

• Scripted Moving 3d Eyes
• Color changeable eyes
• Sculpted animated eyelids with 3 states of open
• Moving Jaw for both Voice and typing with animation
• Eyebrow and mouth expressions
• 5 independent hand poses with the option to set to Auto-posing
• Scripted sculpt/flexi feathered wings that fold away neatly when not in flight (No alpha prims)
• Arm Wings with full flight AO and optional stand AO.
• Scripted toes that curl in flight
• 2 Tail poses with flight detect
• Both Male and Female shapes
• Uncripted shoulder pet corvid and eyeball to hold in your beak.
• Mouth moving function

Measurement	Value
Script Time with HUD	~0.250
Script Time without HUD	~0.250
Avatar Rendering Cost	~2225-4559 (from Corvid to Peacock)

Build and Skin:

The skins and textures are of the normal Tokushi quality. Instead of emulating fur, this time the creators have put a good bit of effort into recreating the impression of feathers over both the body shape and all the attachments. This ensures that whether one is using a Corvid avatar, or one of the various other species, they will be wearing an avatar that will be vibrantly colourful while remaining true to their real world counterparts.

The feet and legs on the avatar are thin and markedly avian with the 3 toes pointing forward and one towards the back. Given that birds are generally digitigrade, the leg attachments are used to create a transition between the scaley feet and the feathered body. Small arrangements of sculpted prims are used to accent these transitions as well as to give some dimension to the feathers. The hands and lower arms are similar to the legs and feet design, but with 4-fingered hands and scaled arms leading up to the elbow joint. In all, the limbs are proportional and well-done.

Depending on whichever avatar the user purchases (e.g. Corvids, Jays, Peacocks), there will be differences in the dimensions of the tail-feathers. For example, the Corvid has much shorter tails than the Jays and the Peacock (with the largest set). Users can array the extra long Peacock tail feathers into a magnificent fan a few metres wide. Appreciably, the mix of sculpts and flexi prims makes any plumage look full and organic.

While the wings vary between different species of Burd, they ultimately come in two forms; as back wings, or as arm-wings.

Back Wings

By default, the wings attach to the back, neatly folded when the user is not flying. However, when the user does fly, the wings extend and the animation overrider takes over. One extremely helpful feature of this avatar is that when the wings fold, they truly do so; all the prims retract into the back. This physical shifting of prims into the inside of the folded wings negates the need for any kind of invisiprim wings. This, in turn keeps the now-invisible wings out of the way of prim selection or the camera.

Otherwise, the wings are an attractive blend of sculpted prims for the wing musculature, and well-textured flexible prims for feathers. The only issue with the wings comes in certain poses; since the wings tuck very neatly close to the body, when an avatar gets into an expressive pose, they might find a wing poking through their chest. This cannot really be helped, however.

Arm Wings

Users can opt for the the ‘Arm-wings’ (In the Extras folder). These place the wings on the actual arm-structure rather than as separate limbs on the back (Remember to wear the accompanying shapes). As such, the only remainder of the hand is a single thumbclaw. This formation of arm-wing is less polished than the back-wings due to some spacing between feathers, but still very viable.

The flight animations for the arm-wings are just as good as the ones for the Back-wings, which makes this alternative form of wing more attractive. It is certainly nice to see a creator make a 4-limbed winged creator. There is even a standing animation where the wings fold up towards the front of the body, tucking neatly against one’s sides.

Overall, the heads of each species has a friendly, cheerful appearance to them as if they just outsmarted a particularly ferocious cat. These avatars use an extended, sculpted neck which sits very well between the shoulders to raise the head a good bit. The texture and prim-work on the neck emphasizes the avian qualities of the avatar, though it can present an issue for people wishing to get themselves into specialised clothing.

Each avatar comes with a prominent, shiny beak, but like the tail-feathers, this varies between species. For example, Corvids and Blue-Jays will have much longer beaks compared to Cardinals with shorter, but deeper beaks. There are no facial expressions for the beak, (beaks are made of hard material, not flesh), but the eye settings and mouth wideness toggle leave a lot of room for expression. It should be mentioned that the eyes are well sized and brightly textured and like Tokushi’s avatars following the Black-Backed Jackal, look around without needing the shape eyes underneath.

The heads between Burd varieties vary not only in beak shape, but also in head structure and dressing. Some avatars will use sculpted prims to mimic down feathers in strategic places across the face more than others. Alternatively, while most avatars have one or two head-feather styles, the Peacock remains a distinct exception with additional feathers in a crest above the head.

Heads-Up Display and Features:

The HUD is the control centre for the entire avatar once again, though all the HUD’s functions are duplicated by chat commands. The HUD operates smoothly and is visually appealing while doing its work.

• Head: Eye Colour, Eyelid State, Eyebrow Expression, Eye Rotation, Blink Toggle/Eye Animation Toggle
• Mouth: Mouth Talking Toggle, Mouth Wideness Toggle
• Hands: Hand Poses, Automatic Hand Posing Toggle
• Wings/Tail: Wing AO Toggle, Flight Detection Toggle, Stand Toggle (Arm-Wings only), Tail-Feathers State, Wing State (Back-Wings only)
• Feet: Curled or Uncurled Toggle

Tokushi offers a few other accessories as well with their Burds. First of all, for amateur users or people who wish to be safe with how they modify their avatars, there are scripted resizeable hands and feet. Additionally, the avatar comes with copies of tiny Corvid ‘friends’ tinted in the same colour as the purchased avatar, which sit on the shoulders or atop the head. Finally, users may derive some enjoyment from a freshly detached eyeball held in the beak.

Customisation:

This avatar is easy to modify, and comes with copy permissions. It is nice to see a scripted resize become available to those who are nervous about resizing attachments on their own. Finally, given the shape of the head, some users may find issues with getting third-party hairs to fit (like any other avatar).

Conclusion:

The Tokushi Burds line brings the spotlight onto a species of avatar that are normally neglected or at least under-represented.  The texture work and the design of the wings in particular make the avatar stand out no matter which variety, and pays homage to one of the most colourful groups of animals on the planet.