skinning&texturing

[superwoman]

is skinning and texturing the same thing how do i do it....if i make a model i want to apply a texture to it so that i then can use the model for whatever well in my case a game map can any1 lead this noob in the right direction?

[finch]

Skinning is attaching a skin to a skeleton or bones or an animation rig, and texturing is giving it colours. You generally do them at the same time, but after you have done both, you have to test the animation to make sure the textures dont warp when your model moves around......

I hope that is some help!

[Sen3D]

Sometimes the process of unwrapping & texturing low poly objects is also known as skinning too, just to confuse matters.
Texturing includes painting texture maps for various surface properties, like colour, bump & specular but also creating a material, (sometimes called shaders, which really refers to the shading algorithm applied to the material which describes how the surface will react to light - examples include lambert, blinn & phong,) which not only includes a base shader but also various maps as well.
Some of these terms are interchangable, some depend on the software you are using and some depend on the type of 3D work you are doing.
Best bet is to read the manual that came with your 3D software for the basics, (plus it will give you a software specific set of instructions on how it works in your package,) & then look into Leigh Van Der Byll's (sp?) texturing tutorials, which you can find on her site, as well as the cgtalk forums, (possibly on 3dtotal as well, I know there are a couple of her tutorials on here,) & maybe invest in the book, "Digital painting & texturing" which is also worth a read.