The direct skinning methods include smooth and rigid skinning.
The main difference between rigid skinning and smooth skinning is that in rigid skinning only one joint can influence a particular skin point (CV, vertex, or lattice point), but in smooth skinning, many joints can influence the same skin point. Because smooth skinning allows many joints to influence the same skin point, you can immediately get smoother deformation effects right after binding skin.
Smooth skinning provides smooth, articulated deformation effects by enabling several joints to influence the same deformable object points (CVS, vertices, or lattice points). For more information, see Smooth skinning.
Rigid skinning provides articulated deformation effects by enabling joints to influence sets of deformable object points. For more information, see Rigid skinning.