Tokushi Avatars Closing, Offering All Items in Single Super-Package

By Bixyl Shuftan

While some prefer to stick with just one kind of avatar, some will occasionally change to something else for an occasion such as themed party or a holiday. A number of people I know have collections of avatars, furred, dragon, tiny, and others. I myself have a collection of avatars that I've gotten over the years, though in the past few haven't many many purchases.

Among the last avatars that I've gone out and purchased was a mesh tiny fox made by Tokushi. I preferred using this tiny to the Wynxworks ones popular at the Raglan community as they didn't need a separate set of dance animations, but could use the same ones as human and furry avatars. This wasn't my first avatar from Tokushi. Earlier, a friend of mine had gotten me one of their "Possat" avatars as a gift. I'd also see a few people in other avatars of theirs, such as their Racoon and their "Qwhilla" which stood out due to it's huge tail. In the words of Second Life Avatar Review Files, while they did some avatars well represented among avie makers, they were also known for making avs with "fantasy backgrounds and personal creations, as well as unique avatars of animals that people don’t usually consider."

Unfortunately, there will be no more designs from Tokushi. On Wednesday, in the Sunweaver and Furry Fashion groups, I began hearing that the company was effectively closing, with everything they had made being sold in one single package. Toki Cure and Racush Cheeky had the following announcement on the store's Furaffinity page:


At long last and after much thought, we have decided to give the news that we will be closing Tokushi avatars on Secondlife for now. It was a hard decision to make, as we both have enjoyed creating for SL, for so many years. But time constraints and new projects online and off have made it impossible for us to continue on at a pace we are happy with. We may still offer simple avatars and accessories from time to time when we are able. But there will be no planning or time frame on anything we may create. We will still post here and on the Tokushi group chat when we do have something new.

We are bundling EVERYTHING we have made up until now into one pack for 3000L. This includes all avatars, all accessories in all colours. Some of the older avatars will have broken scripts/bugs, and we will not be updating/fixing these issues. But they will still work for spare parts! Our sim has been shut down, but the pack and any new things we make will be sold directly on the marketplace.

The link to their bundle on Marketplace is  - https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/The-complete-Tokushi-collection/12567748 . Everything else has been taken down. So if you wanted just one or two of the avatars, that's no longer an option.

On the other hand, or paw, you can now get them in all the colors available. There were the following packages, most of them bundles or "fatpacks" of a particular avatar or item, in the bundle: Ailtar avatar, Air Spirit avatar, Anubis avatar, Aquatic Dragonet avatar, Armadillo avatar, Candi Ears, Chinese Crested avatar, Corvid avatar, Dragon avatar, Fae Wings, Fantasy Ears, Feline avatar, Fear Fox avatar, Floof Pet, Floof avatar, Fnuff avatar, Fox avatar, Griffin avatar, Hell hound avatar, Inca-Ren avatar, Jackal avatar, KiteMod avatar, Le'strap gloves, Otter avatar, Phoenix avatar, Photo-Synthic alien avatar, Possat avatar, Pumpkin Pup avatar, Qwhilla avatar, Raccoon avatar, Reindeer avatar, Rhebuk avatar, Scarfs, Wrist wrap, Squirrel avatar, Steam pants, Sugar glider avatar, Tiny bat avatar, Tiny fox avatar, Tiny Horse avatar, Tiny Possat avatar, Tiny skunk avatar, Tiny zebra avatar, Weedy Sea dragon avatar, Wildhond avatar, Wool hats, Zela avatar, Legging "n spats, and Unicorn parts.

That's a lot of avatars. So what's the catch? The catch, as the owners stated in their press release, is that some of them have bugs and glitches. For instance, trying on their sugar glider, the head was misshapen. Two I tried on, the Anubis (jackal) and Chinese Crested Dog, had the jaws inside the head. I had to bring up my inventory, click on the part in there, and move it to a more proper place by hand. For some reason, when I logged off as the Anubis and came back the next day, I had to readjust the jaw again. I've never had to do that with any avatar before.

But not every avatar was glitched. Their (anthro) Dragon avatar looked fine to me. Taking a look at the HUD, one could change the eye color, as well as an option to have the tongue sticking out. Smoke was coming from it's nostrils, and there was an option in the HUD to have it breathing fire. When one flies with it, the wings flap. I also saw options for the hands, such as extending the index finger only, and some for the appearance of the wings. Fans of "scalies" should appreciate this particular avatar.

It's notable that most of the several avatars I unpacked, the containers were not to be rezzed on the ground, but worn briefly and automatically detach when the contents were in your inventory. The one for the Bilby avatar looked like an Australian didgeridoo, which when worn looked like you were playing it. For those who don't know, a bilby is a kind of Australian marsupial. And like it's animal counterpart, the avatar has the characteristic long nose and ears. It's AO has it normally crouching on the ground on all fours, occasionally standing up on it's legs. It remains low to the ground when walking about. The avatar also came with a pair of detachable antlers.

These are just a few of the avatars of many in the bundle. The Second Life Avatar Review Files website reviewed several. Unfortunately, as of the writing of this article, the website appears to be down. One will have to access the Wayback Machine Internet Archive to find the list, which is less than reliable and has a number of missing images. Their Twitter feed, which is still up, has a couple reviews, of the Rhebuk and the Zela.

So if you have the cash, I recommend you get this avatar package. While some may be glitched beyond use, and some will need to be tinkered with, you can't beat the volume for the price. It is a shame that the reason for the deal is that this is almost certain to be the end of the line for the company.

*Addition* I was told by a friend that part of the money made by the Bilby avatar was donated to a conservation program for their real-life counterparts.  So this avatar did more than just stand out. Each one purchased, at least before the company closed, made life for the marsupials it was based on a little easier.

Bixyl Shuftan

Avatar Review: The Fluff Fox by Cloak Farigoule

By Grease Coakes

Many furries remember the club that was once Anthroxtacy or AX for short for furries. Well trained exotic dancers and a full roster of djs including Aurora Avila added to an excellent club atmosphere
Sadly Anthroxtacy closed it’s doors a few years ago. If you look in my profile you’ll still see those AX tags.

Like any furry I was browsing around the SL marketplace poking around for a new avatar. I happened to see a familiar name that was a regular at AX, one Cloak Farigoule. Who happens to be well known around the furry scene for being a gifted scripter and builder. Cloak had an excellent idea that was in his Fluff fox for 900L. The idea of changing your fox to any color you wish. No more buying a favorite avatar just to get different colors.

A HUD comes with the avatar along with a tattoo. There’s a set of picture instructions also included. The color HUD works with eyes and fur. The wearable tattoo changes your fur color when you edit it. The avatar itself looks cartoonish, but not cheesy. It comes with fox whiskers and nice digi legs.

I happened to grab the mysterious Cloak and ask him a few questions. "What inspired you to build and script within Second Life?" I asked him. Cloak answered, "Simplicity and smaller audience." I asked him to clarify, "What do mean by smaller audience?" Cloak answered, "A better niche audience."  I asked, "The better audience that was looking for furry and or different and custom avatars?"  Cloak answered, "Better as in the idea that there is not much competition and high demand."

I nodded, "Everyone wants a fox or raccoon a certain way and not the cookie cutter avatar that's sold by vendors. Most people go for the pre-made avatars. But the true avatar hounds might want a custom look and you want those to  come  your way?" Cloak confirmed, "Of course."

I brought up, "I really like your Fluff fox avatar where you change colors what can you tell me about it? Or rather tell anyone who might not know about it reading the SL Newser?" Cloak answered, "Make it where you don't need to buy custom colors and I like the idea for more customization without always having to consistently buy different color set for each skin."

I asked, "So it's the colorful fix all for foxies. Are you releasing the same idea for other avatars or just keeping it to foxes only?" Cloak answered, "Definitely I’m working on that for my neko avatar."

Look for Cloak Farigoule on the second life market place. But if you want the fluff fox which offers male and female skins, go here: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/flUff-Fox/5712580 . Also included was a picture that you wear to show you how to change colors

If a new avatar was on your wish list and you wanted a fox with all the colors of the rainbow look no farther then Cloak’s Fluff fox.

Pictures were taken at the ark’s sandbox here http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Quarabia/244/46/28 .

Grease Coakes

The “Wingless” Free Avatars (2009)

The following first appeared in Second Life Newspaper in August 19, 2009

*  *  *  *  *

By Bixyl Shuftan

When I first came to SL, alongside the newbie human avatars as choices for one’s first look was one nonhuman, the old ringtail avatar Luskwood donated to Linden Labs. I did find a few free furred avatars in my newcomer period, but aside from the purple kitty avie, nothing seemed an improvement until I had the cash to buy a better avatar.

 Later, I heard the newbie ringtail had been done away with as an option. So where could a newcomer go to get a furred av, particularly one with a quality look?

It was about that time I found out an answer: the Wingless Avatar package, a collection of quality avatars once sold, now free for the asking.

The Wingless Avatar package is a gift to the residents of SL from the avatar designer Wingless Emoto. He once sold his avatars through a retailer, but a dispute occurred and the business partnership dissolved. Unfortunately for Wingless, the contract signed stated he could not sell the avatars in the deals w ith him through anyone else. So Wingless decided to make them freely available, people able to grab a package at locations, or transferable from person to person. Some carry them not to wear, but to pass to newcomers to SL or those around for a while curious about furry avatars or wanting a different look. Some locations have individual Wingless avatars up for sale for 10L. But this is against the wishes of Wingless.

And the package has an impressive variety of avatars. There are many varieties of both wolf and fox-type avatars, cannids being a popular furred av in SL. There are also a few hyena and horse avs in the package. Rezzing the box on a sandbox and unpacking it, one gets a folder filled with each avatar, boxed. One has to rezz and unpack each avatar.

The avs come in both male and female skins. Highly modifiable, each av offers a choice of either plantigrade (walk on the heel like a normal human foot) or digitgrade (walk on the ball on the foot) lower legs. The latter looks more exotic, though someti ¥mes one can see the shadow of the invisiprims, and long pants worn end up looking cut off with a ring of fabric around the ankles. There is an option for small or large hands/paws. For the wolf avs, A Customization HUD gives you the option of showing canine teeth or not, and choosing the color of eyes, paws, claws, and the inside of ears. Another HUD, “Control,” allows for options for twitching ears, wagging tails, blinking eyes, and blushing.

It should be noted one doesn’t *have* to wear the whole avatar. I have seen some kitsune-style nekos who told me their ears and tails came from Wingless avatar parts. As there are several styles of hair that come with the av, this means a few
free hairpieces. A good place to look if you need one in a hurry upon getting a av with no hair.

The Wingless Avatar Package can be found in some freebie locations, though in any place in SL with some furs, it shouldn’t take long to find someone who has it and get a copy.

A truly great package of free avatars.

* * * * *

Six years later, the Wingless avatars are still around. Despite that they're free, they're not worn as often as before. It seems most residents who prefer a nonhuman look whom get a set of them replace them with a more recent avatar as soon as they have the Lindens. There are also other avatars available as freebies, either legitimately such as the AX avatars at Northstar, or copied without their creators' permission and made available as free packages, such as Avenity.  Still, the avatar does have it's place in Second Life. It comes in a variety of colors that remain unmatched by some other lines of avatar. Plus with some clubs having script limits, some residents will find their favorite avatars will have problems getting them in. But with it's smaller number of scripts, the Wingless will have less trouble doing so. And if one runs across a resident interested in a nonhuman look but doesn't know where to go, one can just hand over a package of Wingless avatars.

*Addition* With the InWorldz grid becoming increasingly popular, a collection of Wingless Avatars was imported there as well. So now the avatars are available now in two grids. 

Bixyl Shuftan

The Kemono Avatar

By FoxytheJamie

 The Kemono av is an anime based, furry avatar, with a bit of human mixed in. This avatar has become one of the more commonly owned avatars in Second Life, and is one of the best avatars on the grid.

Not only can a furry wear one and still be in a furry avatar. But a human can wear one, and they too will still be in their avatar choice, of human. It is literally the best of both worlds. From customizable skin, to hide-able body parts. Literally, you can hide individual parts, like the upper part of your right thigh, and so on.

Not only does the top hud allow you to customize expressions, it also allows you to customize individual eyes, your mouth movement, and even eyebrow movement.

The bottom hud is just as good or maybe better. It allows you to hide your neck, chest, arms, thighs, knees, lower legs, and ankles and feet. And that's just in basic mode. In advanced mode, you can hide a total of 40 individual pieces. As well as allowing you to change your hand position, skin, tail movement, leg type, and allowing you to turn on and off PG parts.

Not only that, but this avatar boasts at least 200 unique clothing articles, that can make, creating an outfit a breeze. All in all, this avatar is truly one of the best in Second Life.

Jamie

Review: The Anthroxtacy Fox

By Grease Coakes

Many furries in Second Life miss the furry club as Anthroxtacy or AX for short. I remember Tactital Tempest told me when we ran into each other “AX was just like every other furry club. But it’s sorely missed.” That left a void in Second Life that has yet to be filled. People were used to seeing the same furries at Anthroxtacy a few times a week. Now a days I rarely see Keeser Cushing around or other furries from there. Aurora Avila clubs at a smaller club called Club Midi once a week.

However there’s still a small part of AX around that Bixyl Shuftan discovered. At NorthStar Polaris (33/181/3001) you can still buy AX avatars. I was very pleasantly surprised. The AX3 fox got everything right just like the avatar planet fox I reported on. I went to the sandbox at The Ark at the ark here to play with it at Quarabia (152/128/502).

There’s a few of the avatars there besides the AX3 fox but when I tried out an AX3 fox I instantly loved it. In fact I haven’t opened an AX fox in such a long time I forgot it wasn’t a box you rezzed on the ground but instead a little fox that matched the color you bought. Hence I bought a blue fox so the color box was a blue fox.

Just like the AP fox from the previous article, the hud is easy to use. Click the HUD to make your tail wag and click the color menu to pick out colors for your eyes. But like the popular toshuki avatars whenever you type or speak on voice you see your avatar become animated making arm and mouth gestures like you’re actually talking. The same goes for the AX3 foxes. I type nonsense and the avatar becomes alive.

Just playing with the hud I click the arrows at the sides of the eyes. It turns out it slowly closes your eyes from wide awake to closed like you’re taking a nap (Zzzzzzzzzz.) Might be handy when you take an afk break to close your eyes to make it seem your avatar is taking a snooze. Or you could look like you're walking around blindly.

Another good thing is that the AP fox had a cartoony look. The AX fox leans more towards a realistic look. When you look carefully around the fox muzzle you see whiskers and stray hairs around the face.

Also the AX3 fox is very inexpensive for all of 250L. The other avatars at the mini AX mall are different prices. However for the excellent graphical look and easy to use options. This avatar is more of a steal then the AP fox. But don’t get me wrong the avatar planet fox is also high quality, but I think the Antrhoxtacy fox is much better even if the price was the same.

For giggles and kicks I spent my last 250L on a purple colored fox. As I write this article I have all of 90L. But I don’t feel guilty, Bixyl pays me and any other reporter a set amount per article and there’s always other ways of making Linden so I can always make my money back.

So if you’re looking for an awesome buy but your linden isn’t so high go the AX avatar mini mall at northstar might be what you are looking for. In fact the vending machine had other avatars as well not just foxes for the same price of 250L. Maybe foxes isn’t your thing? There’s other choices as well. It wouldn’t hurt to at least check it out.

Editor's Note: the AX store at the Northstar Mall has both a vendor for individual Anthroxtacy avatars, and several "fatpacks" where one can get all colors of the same kind of avatar, such as the otter.

Grease Coakes

Untangling Tango

By Becky Shamen

Today, we will be talking about BEWBS. In SL, females have a slightly different set of parameters that can be adjusted on their avatars. There is a setting that allows adjusting the breast size from 0 (pirate's dream-sunken chest) to 100 (OMG cup). As if that weren't enough, one can also buy add-ons, called prim breasts or implants. These can cost between L$800 and twice that. Like them or not, from my experience, they are a good investment. When I used them, as an "exotic" dancer, in adult clubs, I averaged L$600 per night in tips. They also inspired me to make and sell clothing for them, which brings in extra money even when I am not in world. I often log on to find myself a few hundreds richer than when I left.

Most implant clothing can be worn with or without implants. Implant clothing comes with "appliers", which, when worn, duplicate the texture of the clothing top (shirt, jacket or undershirt) on the clothing layer of the implants. My original clothing line was designed for use with Universal Implants brand, which was then the most popular brand. I also included a notecard with my products, called "the do it yourself guide to implants," in which I taught customers how to get the most out of their implants and even make their own clothes for them.

Now, the UI designer has quit SL and clothing for them is becoming hard to find. Since getting involved with Chest Treasures Mall, I have acquired a set of Lolas Tango implants, have added appliers to my original line and make all new outfits work with Tangos. Tangos are even easier than UIs to develop clothing for, so I offer the ladies some of the tricks I have learned, to enable them to make their own clothes and skin for them.

All SL clothing is based on templates. The Top Template is for Jackets, shirts, undershirts and gloves. The Bottom Template is for pants, underpants, socks and shoes. The Skirt Template is for skirts and jacket coat tails. Templates can also be used for making tattoos. Anything designed, using these templates, will fit any body shape. You can get these templates free, on line, by searching for "SL clothing templates." In the above illustration, we show the two layers used to make the black outfit, shown in the first image of this article. The bottom layer is the template. The top layer was made from a photo of the dress Beyonce wore at the Super Bowl half time show. I painted the gloves myself, to complete the look. When the clothing texture is finished, the template layer is turned off and the clothing layer is saved as a .PNG file. PNG files are the only type image that can be uploaded to SL and contain transparent areas. The areas in the above image, where you see the template, will show skin, in world.

Making Tango Appliers

The advantage of Tango implants is, the clothing layer uses the same texture as the one for the dress top. To make an applier, first go in inventory, right click the texture, and select "copy UUID number". All textures used in SL have a unique ID number. Now, make a copy of the applier that came with your implants and drag it to the floor to edit it. In the "content" tab, double click the "clothing configuration" file to open it. Replace the original ID number with your new one, then save and close the window. Now, while still in edit, rename the object to match the outfit it will go with, like "half time applier", then close the edit window. Now, a left click on the applier will put the texture on your implants and line up with the clothes being worn under the implants. Now, right click and take the new applier to your inventory. Make a copy to put in the same folder as the outfit. From here on, wearing the applier will put it on the bottom center of your screen. After clicking it, detach it, until the next time you need it.

Other implants work differently, but the above process will be pretty much the same for all of them. To assist my customers with other brands, I have always included the clothing top texture for them to work with.

Implants come with skin appliers, allowing them to be matched to any skin color on your avatar. However, there is no way they can include skins for furries. You could just make them the right color, but that would not match the 3D shading and variations of hair colors. To use implants with your furry, you will want to make a skin applier. The steps for making one are the same as for clothing appliers, but the texture template is different. The implants don't come with a template and the skin texture is no copy, so where do you get a template? Here is how I made my own skin template. While wearing the implants, right click and edit them. Check the box to edit individual prims and scroll to the skin layer, using [ctrl]+[.] or [ctrl]+[,]. In the "texture" tab, click on the texture image of the skin, which will show it about 1.5" square. Using a paint program that can capture images on screen, grab the screen shot and crop it to just the square skin image. To get good resolution on your planned furry skin, resize the captured skin to 1024x1024 (the largest size image SL allows to be uploaded). This is now your implant skin template.

Now you will need an image of your furry's chest area, to be fitted to the template. Wear the skin, then edit appearance, to hold your av still for a photo. Set your breast size to 0, so that the image will contain all of the breast area in a 2D image. Position your camera to get a close-up of the chest area. The area photographed does not have to be exactly like the template, as long as it contains the full breast and area up to the clavicle (collarbone). Save a HD snapshot to your computer. Copy this image to a new layer, above the skin template. Move and stretch the furry layer so that it overlaps the template in 3 key locations, the nipples and clavicle. When everything is matched up, save the furry layer as a PNG file and upload it to SL. The UUID number of this new texture will be used for making a new skin applier. In making the skin applier, follow the same steps used in making a clothing applier.

Your first time at making clothes, skins and appliers will take some time, but after the initial experience it gets much faster. Within a few months, you might be ready to open your own clothing shop.

Have fun getting busted.

Becky "Sha" Shamen

Kinzart Kreetures and Their Upcoming Gryphon

 by Grease Coakes

One of the pastimes of Second Life just like real life is shopping. Gee golly, I’m bored as anyone could browse around a furry mall or a clothes store looking for the newest and coolest trends to throw on your avatar. 


Furries in general get excited seeing and hearing about a new avatar to show off their furry pride and wow their friends. Recently Kinzart Kreetures, or KZK for short, released a Ferret avatar for 1,000L with many new features including eyelashes. The release party was at furnication a few weeks ago. After many tries I finally got a hold of Sylver Bu and Flame Soulis the two owners of KZK.


As lots of furries know recently, KZK held a poll to ask the burning question. If KZK were to make a new avatar, which animal would everyone want to see get built? The choice was an owl or the griffin. According to the poll, the griffin won the poll by lots of votes.

Through persistence I did contact not only Sylver Bu and Flame Soulis. Sylver Bu told me a lot of options would be included with each avatar. Basic colors would be included for people to pick and choose. I asked what would stand out in Sylver’s griffins and she had this to say, "They'll come with a variety of attachments so you can easily modify the griffin into a hippogryph.  Not really much else to say than that. It’ll come with all our standard features as well as a new set of wings." In addition Sylver also added the standard features, "blinking colorable eyes, expressions, poseable hands, wings that open in flight, some alternate tails, ears, and beaks."

That’s plenty of bells and whistles for an avatar. Sylver quoted the price at 1,500L Wow! That’s a lot to ask for an avatar.

Sylver is in charge of building the avatar and physical appearance. Flame Soulis is the main furry behind all the scripting to make the avatar twitch this way.

Flame talked about the AIO which is short hand for all in one script. Here’s what he had to say, "Well, the Ferrets are using the latest AIO scripts we have, which manage all customization options. The Ferrets are also the first to use a single script based mesh blink system, with support for eyelashes. The griffins will most likely use the same system."

One of the things Flame strives for is that the scripts in the KZK avatars. He wants them to operate faster and take up less memory. A major concern of any furry is during a tail sale or a major party is this. Is my avatar burdened with lots of scripts? It’s no fun for anyone to walk into a sim and get a warning you’re too scripted or some such. So Flame is looking to minimize that on KZK avatars.

In fact Flame likes borrowing features from older avatars to be included in newer avatars. For example the KZK ferrets have an eyelash feature. That same eyelash feature and more will be included in the griffin avatar coming in the near future. Flame said remade avatars get updates as KZK continues to promote their avatars.

I asked the big question that griffin fans everywhere are biting their nails/claws to know, "When will the new griffin avatar be released?" Flame had this to say, "Somewhere within maybe June or early July, but it depends on our schedules."

At the very latest August as Flame also wants to insure that AIO script to operate the avatar works properly. He seemed dedicated to make sure the avatars don’t spaz and glitch. He might also develop a new AIO script which he will name the AIO2 script.

I myself will be excited to see the new avatar when it comes out and I do have a KZK fox so I can say they do make good avatars. Whether you are a fan of griffins or you just want a new shiny avatar to show off to your friends. The KZK griffin coming in the near future might be the fur and feathers package you may have been looking for. Sylver was nice enough to show me this web link as a preview (possibly not safe for work).

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Okarthel/112/156/24

http://www.kinzart.com/news.php


Grease Coakes