Quote - Right but what I'm failing to understand is how is a vertex or polygon is distinguished as being a part of the toe versus the head or whatever if there are no body part groups? If it is all one group, how is the association of a subset of the geometry with a joint implemented? In the absence of any grouping, all vertices are eligible for rotation by any joint and a weight must be recorded for all of them.

Interesting question.  I'm a trepxe, the opposite of an expert, however with what little I know I could guess:

1.  Done by mat zones.  If something is in the foot zone, it follows whatever rules for a foot.

2. Some kind of weight map like you are talking about (this poly has the foot color or location, so it must be a foot).

3. You have a rig and it tries to guess how things work based on the rig and matches the rig to the mesh.  IE if you tell it a model is a human, it'll try to make guesses about what is what.  This scares me to no end because I know how smart features end up as nightmares.

4. I didn't play spore, but I did see how CC in it worked.  You plunked a llimb onto your beastie and the game tried to use it.  So maybe you select an area and label it as a limb or a hand or whatever.

WARK!

Thus Spoketh Winterclaw: a blog about a Winterclaw who speaks from time to time.

 

(using Poser Pro 2014 SR3, on 64 bit Win 7, poser units are inches.)