Standard Semantics Reference
Microsoft DirectX 9.0 SDK Update (October 2004)

Standard Semantics Reference


A standard semantic is a hint to an application for parameter usage. Instead of creating naming guidelines for parameters, Microsoft has created a set of standard semantics. Parameters do not have to use standard semantics (although it's recommended that they do so, see Using Standard Semantics and Standard Annotations)

Standard semantics are unrelated to shader semantics which bind shader parameters to shader registers (see Shader Semantic Syntax).

Standard SemanticsTypeDescription
Ambientfloat4Ambient color.
Attenuationfloat3 or float4Attenuation value, whose value can be one of the following:
  • Distance uses 4 components.
  • Spot uses 3 components.
  • BoxX uses 3 components.
  • BoxY uses 3 components.
BoundingBoxMaxfloat3Bounding box maximum for x, y, z.
BoundingBoxMinfloat3Bounding box minimum for x, y, z.
BoundingBoxSizefloat3Bounding box size for x, y, z.
BoundingCentervectorBounding box center.
BoundingSphereSizefloat1Median bounding sphere radius.
BoundingSphereMinfloat1Minimum bounding sphere radius.
BoundingSphereMaxfloat1Maximum bounding sphere radius.
Diffusefloat4Diffuse color.
ElapsedTimefloat1Elapsed time. Useful when LastTime may not be accurate due to looping simulations.
Emissivefloat4Emissive color.
EnvironmentNormaltextureEnvironment normal map.
Height1 component numeric or a textureHeight value in a bump map.
Jointfloat4Object space to Frame-Joint space
JointWorldfloat4x4Joint world matrix.
JointWorldInversefloat4x4Joint inverse world matrix.
JointWorldInverseTransposefloat4x4Joint transposed, inverse world matrix.
JointWorldViewfloat4x4Joint world-view matrix.
JointWorldViewInversefloat4x4Joint inverse world-view matrix.
JointWorldViewInverseTransposefloat4x4Joint transposed, inverse world-view matrix.
JointWorldViewProjectionfloat4x4Joint world-view-projection matrix.
JointWorldViewProjectionInversefloat4x4Joint inverse world-view-projection matrix.
JointWorldViewProjectionInverseTransposefloat4x4Joint transposed, inverse world-view-projection matrix.
LastTimefloat1Last simulation time.
Normal3 or 4 component numeric or textureSurface normal vector.
Opacityfloat1, float2, float3, float4, or textureObject opacity. Can be a single value or a per-component value.
Positionfloat4XYZW position.
Projectionfloat4x4Projection matrix.
ProjectionInversefloat4x4Inverse projection matrix.
ProjectionInverseTransposefloat4x4Transposed, inverse projection matrix.
RandomnumericRandom numbers.
Refractionfloat1, float2, float3, float4, or textureRefraction value for an environment map. Can be a single value or a per-component value.
RenderColorTargettextureRendertarget surface.
RenderDepthStencilTargettextureDepth/stencil surface.
RenderTargetClipping4 componentsClipping parameters which include: near distance, far distance, width angle (radians), and height angle(radians).
RenderTargetDimensions2 componentRendertarget width and height in pixels.
Specularfloat4Specular color.
SpecularPowerfloat1 to float4 Specular power exponent. Can be a single value or a per-component value.
StandardsGlobalfloat1Standard annotation version number. Default value is 0.80. This may appear only once in a script.
TextureMatrixfloat4x4Texture coordinate transform matrix.
TimefloatSimulation time.
UnitsScalefloatModel scale value.
Viewfloat4x4View matrix.
ViewInversefloat4x4Inverse view matrix.
ViewInverseTransposefloat4x4Transposed, inverse view matrix.
ViewProjectionfloat4x4View-projection matrix.
ViewProjectionInversefloat4x4Inverse view-projection matrix.
ViewProjectionInverseTransposefloat4x4Transposed, inverse view-projection matrix.
Worldfloat4x4World matrix.
WorldInversefloat4x4Inverse world matrix.
WorldInverseTransposefloat4x4Transposed, inverse world matrix.
WorldViewfloat4x4Transposed, inverse world-view matrix.
WorldViewInversefloat4x4Inverse world-view matrix.
WorldViewInverseTransposefloat4x4Transposed, inverse world-view matrix.
WorldViewProjectionfloat4x4World-view-projection matrix.
WorldViewProjectionInversefloat4x4Inverse world-view-projection matrix.
WorldViewProjectionInverseTransposefloat4x4Transposed, inverse world-view-projection matrix.


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