Summary

Mesh skinning is a generic term, not Blender specific, that refers to the process of specifying per-vertex deformations of a mesh which is attached or associated with a set of bone or node objects.  A vertex can have multiple bones that affect its motion, allowing smooth bends at joint locations similar to how a person's skin moves on top of the underlying bone structure when joints bend.

The opposite of skinned mesh animation is rigid mesh animation, in which each mesh in a model is rigidly attached to a single bone or node.  Each type of animation has its own uses and drawbacks.  Skinned meshes are useful for character animation, animals, and pretty much anything that needs to deform organically.  Rigid mesh animations are useful for machines, robots, doors, etc.  Animations in which a mesh does not need to deform in a complex way can usually be accomplished with rigid mesh animations.

Important Notes:

• Skinned meshes created in Blender for export to the Torque DTS file format must be deformed through the use of vertex groups and weights. Bone envelope deformations and other Blender deformation methods are not currently supported.
• For identical skinning results in Torque and Blender, it is recommended that you do not use Blender's quaternion rotation deformation option on your skinned meshes.
• Capitalization on node names must match capitalization on vertex group names.
• The exporter does not support bone envelope deformations
• Quaternion interpolation should be turned off (it should be off by default) in the armature modifier for identical results before and after export
• Running the Mesh Cleanup script included with blender prior to export may result in better in-game performance for skinned meshes and faster export times. YMMV.

Vertex Groups and Weights

Vertex groups are used to specify a relationship between a particular bone and a set of vertices in a mesh.  Weights are assigned for each group to which a vertex belongs, specifying how much the motion of the corresponding bone affects the motion of the vertex.  The names of vertex groups must match the bone names exactly, including capitalization.  Typically, vertex group names are created automatically using one of the automatic skinning methods described in the next section.

Creating a skinned mesh

See: Blender Survival Guide - Creating a skinned mesh for instructions.

See also:

• Blender Survival Guide - Creating a skinned mesh
• DTS Animations
• DTS Animations - Node Animations
• DTS Animations - Node Animations - Rigid meshes
• DTS Animations - Node Animations - Skinned Mesh Animations
• DTS Animations - Node Animations - Bone Nodes
• Blender Survival Guide - Creating action animations
• Blender Survival Guide - Creating action strips
• Blender Survival Guide - Creating and renaming timeline markers