After you create a model and skeleton for your character, you skin the model so that the skeleton’s actions can deform it.

You can either use smooth skinning or rigid skinning to deform the character’s skin. See Smooth skinning and Rigid Skinning for more information. You can also skin the influence lattices of lattice deformers or the wrap influence objects of wrap deformers either by smooth or rigid skinning.

Skinning a character is an iterative process in which you edit and refine the skeleton and the model’s deformable objects until you get the right skin deformation effects.