Skin layers and layer groups form the core of the Skin Tools non-destructive skinning workflow.
A skin layer is the fundamental unit of organization in Skin Tools. Each layer stores skin weight data for one or more joints and contributes to the final deformation result.
Layers can be stacked, enabled or disabled, blended using opacity, and reordered to control their influence.
Layer masks are grayscale maps that control where a layer's weights apply. White areas allow full influence, black areas block influence entirely, and gray values blend the layer partially with underlying layers.
Layer groups are organizational containers that do not store weight data directly. Instead, they contain multiple layers and apply a single shared mask to all child layers.
Layer groups are useful for managing complex regions such as hands or feet, where multiple layers can be controlled together.