See More Avatars from: Tokushi

21 Nov 09 | List Price: L$

Before their Sugar Gliders, Anubis, and even the Wildehound, Tokushi had entered the market with not a cover of an already-existing species, but a made-up one. In this review we take a look at an av company’s humble beginnings with the Dessert-themed creatures.

Out of the Box:

• Twitching tails
• Ears twitch and/or can twitched when clicked
• Jaw animation for typing and voice
• Color changeable eyes (independently)
• Tongue may be poked out
• Optional moving eyes
• Optional hand and shin covers
• Tokushi back key
• Extra male and female shapes

Measurement	Value
Script Time with HUD	~0.052
Script Time without HUD	~0.052
Avatar Rendering Cost	~751-846

Build and Skin:

As mentioned before, this avatar is the first one that Tokushi had released as a company; therefore the scripting skills and texture qualities do not reflect their more recent works.

The skins vary between different varieties of available Fnuffs because the creature is themed around foods; whether it’s chocolate chip cookies or sugar cookies. That said, while the avatar is not hugely exuberant in textures like Tokushi’s later offerings, we can see a confident starting point. There are no shadows or highlights on the textures, which gives the avatar a more cartoon-ish, flat look. However, the detailing that has gone into the markings and patterns is present; making the skin an eyecatcher. Extra notice goes to the Pink Sugar Cookie Fnuff for the sprinkles all over the body.

In terms of build; the quality is acceptable, very good for the time in which it was produced. Here too we see the starting point for the present-day Tokushi avatars in the attempt to flesh out a particular style and look. The foot attachments are flat and wide; smaller width at the heel with a large set of toes at the front. We do not see sculpted paw-pads, but instead, textured pawpads on the underside of the feet. A nice complement to the avatar is that the underside of the foot’s textures get as much attention as the rest of the foot itself. The feet then give way to very thin digitigrade legs which in turn support the rounded haunches/thighs.

Users can also use plantigrade legs that are offered in the Extras folder. To use these, the user must take off the thighs/haunches and wear the alternative male/female shape that is offered in the Extras folder as well.  These leg attachments are a good deal less attractive than the digitigrade ones because they look very cylindrical and bulky compared tot he relatively sleeker and streamlined digitigrade option.

Tokushi has often used sculpted prims for a ‘fluff’ affect; and even though this avatar does not have any sculpted prim fluff, we see the beginnings of this style through their usage of torii instead. There is the slightest bit of bumpiness on the thighs/haunches, but this is very minimal and is seen better only on some specific colour varieties.

Again, the hands are very similar in style to the feet, though we can see that this early on, Tokushi had opted not to merely copy the foot-paws and re-use them as hand-paws, but instead created completely separate hand attachments that were more of a hand-paw mix. These hand-attachments are very large, though, with the shape hands being covered by just the palms of the hand-paw attachments. This allows for 4 finger-digits tipped with sharp-looking claws. The wrist appears a little bulbous, so an arm attachment smoothens the hand-to-shape transition.

The tail is relatively short, but very ‘floofy’ with many torii prims (49 to be exact) giving it a full look. Having the ends of the tail prims highlighted with a different colour gives it more depth.

Here, we begin to comment on the head. Upon wearing the avatar, I have numerous comments; with some either finding the face a unique and of an interesting appearance to opinions concerning being freaked out by it. For me, it is reminiscent of a Chihuahua with Rodent-ish influences. Whatever the opinions are, at least the avatar will turn heads one way or another. The focal-point on the head lies mostly on the eyes. They are very large and bulge slightly out of the sides of the head with pretty large pupils. The default eyes do not move, but in the Extras folder, there is an alternative head and eyeballs that attach to the eyes underneath to give you moving eyeballs.

The muzzle is fairly blunt and boxy; textured in a way that is reminiscent of a canine’s muzzle. One could almost say that the avatar’s face has an ‘imp-ish’ look to it; a mischievious look in its big eyes. The interior of the muzzle is decent with a red-pink tongue and an assortment of teeth that make for an interesting smile when the jaws open. At last, the ears are long, pointing horizontal to the eyes away from the head. The avatar does not have symmetrical colouration, so for fun, you can see that both ears have different textures both on the front and the back.

Heads-Up Display (HUD) and Features:

This avatar does not have many of the features that current avatar standards offer, but it does offer the basics to get the job done. The breakdown of the HUD is as follows:

• Head: Eyelid State/Expression (Open, Angry, Sad, Sleep), Blink Toggle, Eartwitch Toggle, Earflick Toggle, Individual Eye Colour
• Mouth: Muzzle-Talking Function Toggle, Tongue In/Out Toggle, Mouth Open/Close Toggle
• Tail: Tail State (Up, Down, Center), Tail Twitch On/Off Toggle

The avatar comes with one extra that some may like to wear; coverings that act as long gloves for the arms and socks for the feet. The picture below shows these limb attachments with the coverings included. As well, users receive a Tokushi key which is worn against the back with rope.

Customisation:

The avatar is copyable and modifiable, so users should have no issue in customising it to their taste. The head shape is a little odd, however, so using your own third-party hair may prove difficult unless it is made to fit a non-conventional head or you are good at manipulating hairs to fit on uniquely shaped heads.

Conclusion:

Like some of the other ‘early’ avatars that we have come to review from other creators, the Tokushi Fnuff was a start to a brand name and the style that grew to define its creators. Over time, we would see Tokushi gain new techniques and become more creative with their builds and textures. Regardless, for those who would like to have a unique avatar from the very back pages of Tokushi’s current catalogue, the Fnuff can be a ‘delicious’ choice.

This review was written by Forepawz - Contributor and Senior Editor | Filed under Avatar Reviews, Tokushi
Tagged featured, fnuff, gallery, Tokushi.