If Blitz3D had some commands to assign vertices to bones, I imagine it would be pretty easy to create an animation program using Blitz
This would be handy but then theres no command to save .b3d - and we dont know how .b3d's are stored in memory to be able to write one.
You dont actually have to parent each vertex to a joint - the vertex are parented to the joints during the loadanimmesh process using information stored in the .b3d - all you have to do is modify this information within (a copy of the original) file and reload .
You can create tiny cubes for vertex and spheres for each joint while displaying the model in wireframe to get a gui.
I plan to use a similar method to create a 'Walk Generator' for .B3d similar to the one in Poser.
Exactly how much of a hit is it on performance if you have a more complex skeleton in Blitz?
Its down to the model used rather than the joints.
Each joint and its assigned vertex have to be processed on each frame of animation - not just the key frames - The joints themselves are not the problem - they are like pivots - but if you have a high polygon model then a lot of vertex positions have to be calculated each frame.
With low polygon models you should be able to use a high number of joints with little or no hit on performance.