Implementing skeletal animation using matrix palette skinning
When working with games and simulation systems, virtual characters are often used to give a detailed depiction of scenarios. Such characters are typically represented using a combination of bones and skin. The vertices of the 3D model are assigned influence weights (called blend weights) that control how much a bone influences that vertex. Up to four bones can influence a vertex. The process whereby bone weights are assigned to the vertices of a 3D model is called skinning. Each bone stores its transformation. These stored sequences of transformations are applied to every frame and every bone in the model and in the end, we get an animated character on the screen. This representation of animation is called skeletal animation. There are several methods for skeletal animation. One popular method is matrix palette skinning, which is also known as linear blend skinning (LBS). This method will be implemented in this recipe.
