360° Snapshot At Firestorm Viewer

 
By Marcel Mosswood

I was very excited when I got the chance to try out Firestorm preview 65562 (future release) which one of the advantages is the 360° Snapshot. This Firestorm feature can make 360° snapshots like a 360° camera in real life. The result is really good!

People often compare 360° photos with videos, they think that 360° photos are nothing special because it is better to watch videos than 360° photos. In fact, 360° photos have many advantages over ordinary videos, especially if they are used for content marketing because of their immersive nature. With 360° photos, you can watch in any direction and point the screen in any direction you like.

Prior to this version, the 360° snapshot version can be enjoyed in the Firestorm VR Mod version 6.5.3, while this version 65562 is not a VR Mod version and is still a preview, at the time I’m writing this article, it is not yet available on the official Firestorm website, maybe it will be available soon.

This is the result of a 360° Snapshot I made in Imagiland, my region on OSGrid 

 

Making a 360° snapshot in Firestorm 65562 is very easy. First, make sure the graphic settings on your Firestorm are ultra so that the results will be satisfactory.

Click on the snapshot icon, then click the “Take 360° Snapshot” button at the bottom right

 

Then select the desired quality. My advice is don't hesitate to choose the Maximum one so that the resulting image is good. You can also check “Hide all avatars” so that the avatars don't appear in the photo. But if you want to show the avatar(s), don't check this box. Then click on “Create 360° Image”, and then click on “Save as” to save the snapshot on your hard disk.

After that, you can upload it on Flickr, Google Photos, or Facebook to share your snapshot with friends. Hopefully, in the near future, this Firestorm will be available for Second Life.

Marcel Mosswood

Review of Lab Gab Episode Two With Reed Linden

By Bixyl Shuftan

On Wednesday September 11, the new "Lab Gab" youtube program by Linden Lab featuring Xiola and Strawberry Linden had it's second episode, airing at 3PM SL time. The guest for this episode was Reed Linden, the Product Manager.

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(Click here if the video fails to play)

 Xiola and Strawberry admitted to Reed, whom stood out in his tiny penguin avatar, that he had been asked to appear as their guest at the last minute. But he didn't mind, especially as he was number one, "Am I the first one? Oh wow! That feels amazing." Reed told that he had been with the lab for "a little less than nine years." He started in frontline support, "so some of your viewers may have talked to me before." After three years, he was moved to the engineering team. Soon after, Grumpity Linden decided he would make a good product manager "so here we are."

Reed described himself as having seen Second Life from a few different angles. Of who knows the most about SL, he felt it's the users. Among the Lindens, he thought it's the frontline support team.
"The path I've taken is uniquely responsible for ... I have a very user focused perspective. Of his favorite thing about working on SL? He answered, "It's got to be the community, hands down." He enjoys stories about how Second Life brings people together, "Every week we hear a story about people that for whatever reason weren't able to make connections in their real life, but on Second Life they can. ... every time I hear stories about that, it makes my heart grow."

He described much of his work as a focus on web projects. Of what he called the the web profile "experiment," he stated it would "go away. and we shall no longer speak of it." He stated there would be a return to "old school" viewer profiles and "update them completely." He stated there would soon be further. changes to Marketplace, but wouldn't give any estimates of when they would be in effect due to the team working on profiles, destination guide, and events in the last couple months. He did discuss the recent release of a Marketplace feature, Shop Managers, which "allows you as a store owner to nominate other residents to be managers for your store," different abilities and manage them "basically allows you to have assistants." One upcoming feature was the Gifts Received Page, "something that people have been asking for for I think, forever." There would also be purchase notifications, specifically for store owners. This feature would be one they could opt-in or not, as owners of larger stores could be spammed with notifications. They would also be overhauling Marketplace for mobile use.

Other things discussed included the Last Names issue, which was "still in the works." Land pricing was also discussed, Reed feeling further reductions anytime soon were unlikely. Someone on the Youtube live comments asked if it would be possible for the viewer to have pop-out panels. Reed answered he wasn't sure how feesable it was, but it was worth pursuing a JIRA on if it hadn't been already. In the Youtube comments feed, Inara Pey answered that a third-party viewer had tried it, "It is *not* easy to achieve." Reed also stated the Lab was considering a level above Premium that would come with more benefits.

The Linden homes were brought up, Reed saying, "the response to the new Linden Homes has been absolutely just overwhelming and wonderful." There was some talk about the Bellisserian community, with some residents roleplaying certain community roles down to someone collecting the trash.

Of the recently released Bakes on Mesh, Reed stated he was, "super encouraged from the engagement we've been getting from the community ... already seeing a lot of mesh jumping." He was hearing about products in development, or already out and "excited about the flexibility this is going to give our residents." He felt content that was sitting around in inventories unused for years would soon be able to find new life, "our hope is that this will allow people to start making much more lightweight content ... in terms of graphic resources that are required to display it." He was looking forward to having his penguin avatar updated with BoM.

When talking to new people in real life, his "icebreaker" is that he works for Linden Lab, "The stories you can tell about working here, particularly in some of the fields that are closer to the residents themselves are just as wonderful and amusing." Of his real-life hobbies, Reed enjoys "miniature painting," or painting D&D figures and diorama.

No date has been set yet for the next "Lab Gab." Episodes have been on Wednesdays "every two weeks or so." So the next may be on September 25 at soonest.

Bixyl Shuftan

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

Avatar Review: The KzK "Will o' Drake"

By Foxiethejamie

The Will o' Drake, a kzk exclusive, is an avatar resembling a bug, saytr, and human. It, like all of their avatars, is a furry avatar, but this avi takes it to the next level.

The avatar comes in many colors and each version is cleverly named. For example I bought the black version which is named Dark Matter. But the name isn't what gets people talking. The many factors that came together to make this avatar make it a great one.

Let's start at the head and make our way down shall we? Starting atop the head we have a set of horns and antennae. We then have large ears and a uniquely shaped head. On the face we have large solid eyes and a short, but cute, snout.

Just below the head we have a tuft of fur covering the neck and perhaps providing warmth for the avatar. Just below that on the back we have small shell plating with wings protruding from the openings. The wings are nearly invisible and are doubled up. Just below that we have special markings on the belly of the being.

Then we have a stinger like tail coming out of the back of the creature. Inside this carapace you can easily see a large orb like object inside it, most likely the egg sack or some poison pouch. Just below the tail we have uniquely shaped legs that start out at the thighs and then taper down. The feet of this small creature are small with four claws on each foot.

Now lets take a look at the abilities of this avatar. One of these include the wings actually moving as you fly. Another one is this avatar could be a shining beacon in a very dark place.

Inside the hud you have the classic moving jaw, and changing textures for certain parts. However you can also change the claws on this one from black to white and back. And it even allows you to change the color of the carapaces.

All in all, this avatar is one for the history books. For only 600 L, it's practically a steal. In my opinion this would have to be the best avatar I have ever seen.

"Jenny"

Review of PaleoQuest

By Gemma Cleanslate

 The evil Dr Talpa is on the move again to destroy the grid and Magellan Linden needs our help. That is the billing for the new inworld game called "Paleoquest." I enjoyed the Magellan quest a few years ago,  the Linden Realms, the Cornfield, earlier inworld games that I still visit occasionally so was quite interested in trying this one. 

The entrance is at the Portal Park 1 where I ran into a few friends immediately as I landed. Kiera Linden was coming to try it and Marianne McCann and Uccie Poultry, both of whom were there yesterday already. The entrance path, lined with prehistoric ferns and other lush foliage leads to a tall golden entrance where my window donned a hud I and teleported to the visitor center. As I approached I was graced with the voice of Magellan welcoming me with a thank you for coming. There is a background video to bring you up to date on why you are here and a tutorial video for help, and an information card to pick up. And then, you climb the stairs to catch the monorail that circles the entire region with stops at the each quest location. If I waited to write this until I did the whole sim you might never hear from me again! 

Be prepared! There is danger everywhere you go from the volcanoes, falls off the mountain, holes in the rope bridges, and from above the flying dinosaur who is protecting her nests in one of which sits the prize. Any one of the obstacles can kill you! Along the way I collected dinosaur eggs that were added to my hud. None of this is easy and I died and resurrected six times and lost all my eggs !!! 
 
I am sitting at the resurrection platform now to tell you my story.  I thought it would be better if I told you all this now so you can begin your quest if you like! So many dangers and I have so much to do!!! if you see me along the way say hello! I was going to stop there but after I sat for a while I went to bring back the prize and made it. I entered the pyramid, made my way through the dangers and returned the prize to the rightful owner !! I have no eggs but can go back for more later. 

Now I am off to the monorail to get to the second quest which I understand involves toxic water and other goodies .  All these collections involve prizes and Lindens at the payout stations at the visitor center so it is not just for nothing! Read the notecard . 

 I will let you know if I ever complete the game or perhaps if some part of it is so interesting I need to tell you more. Beware! http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Portal%20Park%201/136/136/23

Gemma Cleanslate

Avatar Review: The Anthroxtacy Shark

By Bixyl Shuftan

Longtime fans of furred avatars in Second Life will probably remember Anthroxtacy, often called "AX" for short. This maker of avatars produced a line that was quite popular, as well as having a popular club next to their main store at their sim Elliquiy. But in October 2013, they shut down, their maker Tinintri Mistral getting out of the avatar business and eventually leaving the virtual world. Despite being gone from Second Life for over a year, the avatar line remains well known.

For those still interested in getting one of the Anthroxtacy avatars, some are still available on sale on SL Marketplace. But that is not all. As Grease wrote in his review of the AX Fox, many of the avatars are still available in a spot at the Northstar Polaris sim (40, 188, 3001). There are a number of avatar vendors in the room, but to my surprise when I looked under the vendor of the Feral Phoenix (the orange one to the left in this picture of Grease's), there was a surprise. There were two boxes of Anthroxtacy avatars, available for free!

The one on the right contained some older AX avatars, but the one on the left contained several, in "fatpacks" with several of the same kind of avatar in different colors. Some already have reviews about them done on "Second Life Avatar Review Files," such as the Anthroxtacy Mouse. Of those that haven't, one that stands out is the Anthroxtacy Shark. For those whom want to be a part of Second Life's aquatic community, or frequently visit friends there, and wearing a mermaid avatar doesn't seen quite right for you, the Anthroxtacy Shark just might be.

Unlike the other AX avatars, their shark av can either go about on land like the others, or swim about in and under the water.  The "mershark" swims about like a mermaid through use of an AO that keeps the legs together and a tail attachment that makes the legs look like a tail. It's not quite as flexible as some mermaid tails, and it may look a little odd if doing certain mermaid dances.

To go to "landwalker," one detatches the AO and mertail, and attaches the smaller tail, or the "butt" as it's less than elegantly called. It can then go about like any other avatar.

The HUD that comes with the avatar is simple to use. One can turn the AO on or off, the talking animation on or off. One can also keep the mouth open by varying degrees, stick out the tongue or not, make the eyes partially or completely shut, and change the eye color. To minimize, just press the blue triangle on it's edge, and only the triangle will remain on the viewer's edge. Press it again to bring the HUD back.

Of the avatar's finer features, the shark's skin has a marbled tone to it rather than a solid pattern. The throat sports some gill slits, static ones as these are strictly textures. The shape of the head certainly looks sharklike, with the contour of it's nose. Besides on the back and tail, there are also fins on the legs and arms.

The avatar comes in both genders male and female. Some guys might be more inclined to go shark rather than go mermaid's tail when wanting to fit in with a crowd of aquatics. But for some reason, most shark's I've seen out on the Grid are females. Perhaps some ladies are using the avatar to discourage lechers.

All in all, I was fairly pleased with the Anthroxtacy Shark. While having some small flaws such as not being able to use some mermaid dances, it's still a good choice even if one still had to pay the old price. That now one can get it for free, that just makes it all the more better. The downside, is that there's no guarantee of updates. So as Second Life continues to develop, the avatar *might* develop problems should the old scripts fail to work. But for now, the AX Shark is an avatar one can sink their teeth into. Nothing fishy about it ... well, not the bad kind of fishy.

Bixyl Shuftan

Viss Bunny Review

By FoxytheJamie

An avatar built different than others. This av is built in 10 parts, unlike the other full mesh avatars, which are made up, usually, of the head, and body. Not only that, but the legs are all one piece, literally, both legs are one entire piece. The hands are the same way.

The only thing that is similar between this av and others is the head and jaw. The head is all one piece, and the jaw is all one piece. You do need to wear them both, unless you lost your jaw in the war.

The hud is built differently as you have an eyelid hud, eyeball hud, eyeball color hud, eyebrow/blush hud, and jaw hud. Making it one of the most extensively editable avatars, without having to go into edit mode.

The avatar is a bit expensive at 1900L however it is a great buy, because of how high quality it looks, and how well it's made.

The avatar is a bit lacking in the clothing variety however. Mainly, people make texture shirts for this avatar, as it has a strange shape that's pretty difficult to make a mesh shirt for. However it's quite easy to find mesh pants for it. In fact you really shouldn't count this av out, due to the shirt problem.

All in all, this av is one of the best, and one of my favorites in all of second life. I would say, if you have the lindens, you can't go wrong with it.

Jamie

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

Club Vraiment

By Wesley Regenbogen

Club VRAIMENT, literally translated "The Real Club,  first opened on February 25th ,2014 until October 1^st, 2014. But the club reopened on February 17^th, 2015. The owner and creator is Colonel Komarov. He also decorated the club.

The owner told me that the basic idea was to create a “real club,” which means a club with a dance floor, lights and things you find in an normal club in real life. He didn’t want to create another beach club or something similar with a shopping mall and stuff like that. Although, the club is rather small, it’s a cool club with the lights and stuff. It is totally dark with flashing lights and a small DJ booth. The normal features of a club. 

The Live DJs are also very cool. They mostly play electronic music ( EDM ), but they also play rock or retro, not top 40 mainstream pop or tropical zouk reggae. DJ Robina Ewing, one of my SL friends, plays there sometimes. She told me about this club.

They have a group in-world and also a Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/vraiment.club/ ). They notify avatars through notifications from within the group. Since they are new, they don’t have a website yet, but I think that will follow soon.

Although it’s a small club, they need some attention too. Small clubs need love too, right? That’s what I thought as well. Personally, I think is small club is very nice, because of it’s minimalistic space and also it’s nice interior, which is also basic like in a normal club. This makes this club special and cool at the same time.

So, why not go to a “normal” club for once and go to VRAIMENT CLUB! Yet another club to add to my club list ( nah, I don’t have a list, just kidding ).

You can visit VRAIMENT CLUB at this location :

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/New%20York%20NYC/176/15/3002

Wesley Regenbogen

Avatar Review, the DSD Leopard

By Jamie

DSD, the very mention of the name will bring quality avatars, and great service, to a furry's mind. However an av that I recently have gotten, makes me rethink DSD. The avatar in question is the DSD_LeopardLE. The problems with this avatar, will be explained below.

At first glance the avatar looks awesome, but the hud looks a bit different. Usually the DSD hud will show a full body view of the av, and it will be barely half an inch tall. However this hud is roughly one inch wide, and one inch tall. meaning it takes up twice as much room as the other huds.

Upon opening the hud, the layout of it is a bit questionable, and strange to regular DSD users. The usual hud will simply open downward, and take up about 3 inches wide, and 4 to 5 inches tall. However this hud takes about 3 inches down, and 4 inches wide, meaning rather than taking up the periferal, it takes up the entire upper left hand corner, of the screen. However when clicking on each section, it completely covers the remaining space in the upper left hand corner.

However the biggest problem is the color bars and squares. Color bars, and color squares are supposed to have visible colors in them, to change the colors of different parts. However, these bars and squares are completely white, yet still work as if they have color in them, meaning your working blindly.

However, other than that, it's a good avatar, That is not saying it's a great avatar. It's still a flounder. It looks great, and amazing. But it can't really do much.

Jamie (Theonlyjohnny)

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

Review: Avatar Planet Foxes

By Grease Coakes

Just like any other furry in the world of Second Life I enjoy shopping around for a new avatar. When I was looking for a human avatar for going to the church in my earlier article I typed out avatar thinking I would find a cheap human avatar. I found a sim called avatar planet at Blacktail Ridge (50/66/215). Thinking it had human avatars I checked it out. I happened to see a vending machine not for human skins but for a fox avatar I never heard of.

I forgot about looking for a human avatar as chances are I had a freebie human skin anyway. So I bought the orange version and went to the church and saved the fox for later.

When I went to a sandbox to try it out I was impressed that it seemed easy to use. The cartoon look is appealing as well. But the cartoon appearance isn’t too cute as a turn off it seems just right.

It did come with an instructions note card however the hud is clear and easy to read. You click the blue buttons and it takes you where it says. Click eye colors one and two for not just one color but two within each eyeball.

As a bonus you can also change the color of your tongue and adjust it sticking out of your fox muzzle. And also that you can open or close your jaw as well. So it would make your avatar appear like you are wagging your tongue like a natural fox animal habit.

As you can see below jaw rotation are the numbers 1 through 4. 1 being closed and four being open all the way.  There’s also paw pad options to change the color of your paw pads and your tongue. The color hud is easy. Click on what you want to change and pick a color from the color palette.

I happened to see a friendly sign that explained their policy and also names to contact if you have a problem with your avatar or it did not deliver after you paid.

Blaze Borgin and Doug Falta did a great job creating this fox avatar. They found the happy medium between bells and whistles and ease of use. You may have heard the expression “less is more.” That’s the case with their avatar planet fox where it’s very simple as I’m playing with the hud I’m not confused at all.

Maybe you’re not interested in a fox avatar? Blaze and Doug made other choices such as a velix whatever that is, but it looks cool like a kind of demon. An otter, a bat, and a red panda.

Wandering around the store I see they also have skins for other avatars and some clothes. So you’re a winner if you check out avatar planet you get a new avatar at a fair price and some new clothes to try out on your new fur and tail.

And that’s another good thing about the avatar. The price as you might have seen on the vending machine is a mere 800L. Other avatars I have seen priced for 900 or 1,000. So for you’re what getting for your money is a steal I’d say.

I have nothing but good feelings and happy vibes about the avatar planet fox. I didn’t try out the other four avatars. However if Doug and Blaze followed the same simple and easy to use hud and graphically appealing design I’d say each of the other avatars is a bargain just like the fox. I highly recommend if you are looking for a new avatar look no farther then Avatar Planet

Grease Coakes

Review of Madpea's "Buried"

By Kiirya Lii

 As far as easter-egg hunts go, Buried is one of the best, and one of the worst of the genre. You begin as an amateur geocacher ... using GPS coordinates to hunt down little trinkets and doodads for sport and entertainment ... just like the protagonist of our story. Introducing Lily Morano, an famous author who got a little too invested in geocaching ... and is now missing. Her husband Joshua Morano is offering anyone who can find her a whopping $500,000.

That's where you come in. After forking over the 300L for the HUD, which that alone is difficult enough to understand until you realize it's an overhead view of the entire mesh of the sim. Then you embark on a mysterious adventure ... or so you think. The first clue is an interesting find. You wonder around the isle until you come upon some clues that lead you to Lilys iPad. (Lilypad, for those who miss the joke.) After some decent voice acting and an interesting plot twist, you're suddenly teleported to a shop.

At this shop, you're likely to spend anywhere from twenty minutes to a couple hours searching for a tiny geo capsule whose only purpose is to give you a tiny sense of immersion. As one player put it, whose name will be left out to protect anonymity,  "Thrusting people into a resource-intensive sim without any indication of what they're supposed to be looking for? Genius."

After a few of these you start to realize the story is more of an afterthought while advertising and exposure is the true point of this whole game. You just paid someone to tell you buy items.

"But Kiirya!" you say, "There are prizes!" Yes! I tell you, albeit a bit sarcastically, Have you seen them? For the amount of work involved with finding just a FEW capsules, let alone TWENTY-FIVE, I personally feel the end does not justify the means. From what I understand, on each "level", shop and sim owners had the say on where they would hide the capsule. Some were very clever, others were like finding a purple elephant in a white room.

This lack of consistency in ascending or descending difficulty is another reason I am not fond of this game. Besides the progressing story, you don't feel like you're making any progress. By capsule six, you feel more like a parent observing their child's magic trick for the thousandth time and less like a rising geocacher on the adventure of a lifetime. The coordination required for this game non existent. One would assume they didn't communicate much during the development stage.

The games saving grace comes in the form of friendly faces sharing your adventure. The madpea group the you join in correlation with starting the game is filled with wonderful, helpful and willing people. In fact I believe it's safe to assume that without this group, a large majority of players simply wouldn't progress enough to find the encouragement to keep playing until the end. This game is infuriating, welcoming, annoying, and wonderful. Regardless of my obvious negative opinions of the game, I would STILL recommend you go out and get it, if for nothing else other than the wonderful community you encounter while embarking on this adventure.

Kiirya Lii

Xymbers' Avatar Reviews: The DreamCrawler Dragon

By Xymbers Slade

Waltzing about the social islands one afternoon I ran into a mesh dragon that looked remarkably like a Seawolf, and I went "Oh, did Seawolf update their dragons to mesh?" -- well, they didn't; this dragon is by DreamCrawler, and at a hefty pricetag of $4700L (!), you're going to have to decide for yourself whether the price is worth the avatar. According to the 50-some positive reviews for the various breeds of this particular dragon (for each breed), I'd say the avatar creator is making quite a lot of $L.

This dragon follows the rest of the DreamCrawler line of avatars; you buy the dragon and get a few "soul gems" that determine its color (buying a dragon gets three gems, each with a different base texture that goes over the dragon mesh). You wear the dragon (itself a solid black blob until you pop in a soul gem), wear the variety of horns (several types) or ear fins (one type) you like, then wear a soul gem and boom, the dragon mesh is colored. This dragon currently has three styles: "Nocte" (mostly reds, oranges and blacks, making me think of volcanic dragons), "Voluptas" (Purples and blues that make me think ice or crystal), and "Marenostrum" (blues and whites mostly, ice drakes).

I grabbed myself a Nocte, popped in a soul gem and went to wander some sims. The animations on it are exceptionally well done and I got a lot of compliments on it. If anyone whined, it was about how the claws appeared "clipped" instead of full-on claws, but you can only do so much with mesh and that's just a minor thing. Flying is good, and every so often the animation has the dragon doing a little mid-air flip if you're hovering idle somewhere. The dragon does not come with a saddle but I think with a little bit of work one could be modified to work with the dragon. The breath weapon is customizable, with three different breaths (fire, frost, or poison gas), and the colors of the breath weapon are editable (one color for starting particles, one for ending particles).

It's not without its flaws. The hud has an expressions tab that has the names of the expressions in a tiny, almost unreadable font that almost requires the hud be resized, especially if someone has bad eyesight (on the plus side, my experience was that dreamcrawler avatar huds are slow to respond... not so with this one). When in flight, the head bobs and weaves, meaning you're not getting a direct line from your breath weapon, but a spray/blast all over the place like a firehose. There's no talkjaw, but this seems to be a theme with mesh objects, so I can let that slide. If you want more colors you have to buy more soul gems, and last I checked, extra color schemes were $999L each for a pack of 3. That's expensive when the easier way would be to add a colorchange hud like the mesh dinosaurs of Prehistorica... which would allow for individual customization of various parts of the dragon rather than just layering over one color scheme.

If anything, the real "flaw" is its price. I do not think any avatar with the current level of SL-tech is worth nearly $5000L. A well made dragon like the dragon from Spider Productions is half that (and has options for biped or quad when the Dreamcrawler is just a quad), and this DreamCrawler dragon certainly fits the definition of well-made. That's really the only reason (other than the "blurry" low rez hud, or at least it was blurry to me) that it gets Four Dragon Hoards out of five. If you can afford it, great, because you won't be unimpressed by it. If you can't afford it, there are cheaper just as good mesh dragons out there.

The Dreamcrawler dragon can be found on the Marketplace (here).

Xymbers' Avatar Reviews

By Xymbers Slade

It's been a long time since I went avatar hunting (or really, anything hunting since there's really nothing in SL I need at this point), but I'd heard of two locations with mesh avatars that sounded popular, and so I decided I'd check them out. The first location is The 5th Wolf, a place with a couple of mesh avatars and some clothes for the (non-mesh) 1st Act werewolf avatar. 5th Wolf has two avatars, a wolf and a minotaur, so I bought them both (at $2000L a pop) and decided to have myself a look.

First, the Wolf. It comes with two types, "Beast" and "Normal", which don't seem to be different at all except one might be a little bit larger than the other and might be better working or something depending on the AO used. Said wolf does NOT come with its own animation override. It also puts you into a very wide stance when you first wear it, which made me go "???" and tilt my head for a minute or two. While it has no AO of its own, the notecard suggests the "Vista Animations Beast Ao-vo1" (L$ 399 according to the notecard). It is RARE that you don't see anyone include animations in their work these days, but according to Karolline Khandr, the creator, "I don't know anyone who does animations." We can only be good at what we know (smile). The other big negative to this wolf is that there is no talkjaw... the mouth doesn't move. They're working on it, from what I've been told.

On the good side, the mesh looks awesome. Probably one of the best meshes I've seen yet, very detailed without looking like someone just painted a picture onto and over a blob of a mesh and called it good. Still, the programming "feels clunky" when I move without an AO, and the HUD was a bit slow to respond in some places. To be honest, at 2000 $L, with no AO and a lack of a talkjaw, it does feel unfinished (or underfinished). So I can't give it the best rating. I want to give it 4 Dragon Hoards out of five... but I just can't. This one gets 3 Dragon Hoards out of five, and that's pushing it.

The other avatar is the "Ukko Minotaur." It comes with two different forms, one with hair and attachments, and one without. It also comes in two sizes (big and slightly less big). It took me a little bit to figure out, especially since the box I purchased was of an old version and it had yet to update. There's still no AO or talkjaw on this one, but it does have an option to remove the horns (especially since some of its costumes, sold separately, come with another set of horns). There's options for skin coloring (four different variables), horn coloring (three) and eye color (four) and here the effort shows; it's as if the creator learned from whatever mistakes or whatever they ran into when creating the wolf. I'm going to give the Ukko Minotaur a good 4 Dragon Hoards out of Five.

Finally we have the last of the avatars I'm reviewing today, the mesh KOT Centaur. I pulled out my dark elf shaman avatar, strapped her into the equine body, and...

First, there's a demo you can get. The demo disappears if taken outside the sim, and only shows the mesh color on one side of it while you're exploring the coats. After getting the real thing, I found the avatar itself has 16 coat options, from black to seal to palomino to Pinkie Pie Pink. The skins are bought with "tokens" you can buy on the marketplace, but I didn't see such option or thing there and could freely cycle through the coats at whim. So I do not know if this is an idea that was abandoned mid-stride, or if the HUD I have somehow has access to all of the skins. You begin with the "Seal" skin (a dark brown) and get one token to start (I bought a "Rocky Mountain Black" skin with it); extra tokens supposedly cost $350 on the marketplace.

The notecard suggests that you should "always detatch the av via the hud" or it causes AO conflicts. I've never heard or seen something like that happen and I didn't have it happen to me when I switched avatars and back, so that is a plus (or maybe I don't use enough AOs... heh). The one glaring problem I DID have is that the arms lock whenever you click on something, freezing in the point animation and requiring a detatchment of the equine body or even a relog to reset. And even then, the arms seem to be "locked" in place. If you type and have the typing animation on, the arms will freeze mid-type when you're done. I had an extra AO from elsewhere I could use to reset the arms' position, but your mileage will vary. Is it a good mesh with good movement animations and clopping sounds while you're moving? Yes. Is it worth $2000L with a glaring "bug" like the arms locking? No. Thus, four dragon Hoards out of Five.

The 5th Wolf and the Ukko Minotaur can be found at the Waterton Commerce sim (57,224,2300) and the KOT Stables can be found at the The Triquetra sim (223,103,23).