Flexible Vertex Format Flags

Direct3D Immediate Mode uses flag values to describe vertex formats used for DrawPrimitive-based rendering. The D3dtypes.h header file declares the following flags to explicitly describe a vertex format and provides helper macros that act as common combinations of such flags. For more information, see About Vertex Formats.

Flexible vertex format (FVF) flags

D3DFVF_DIFFUSE

Vertex format includes a diffuse color component.

D3DFVF_NORMAL

Vertex format includes a vertex normal vector. This flag cannot be used with the D3DFVF_XYZRHW flag.

D3DFVF_SPECULAR

Vertex format includes a specular color component.

D3DFVF_XYZ

Vertex format includes the position of an untransformed vertex. This flag cannot be used with the D3DFVF_XYZRHW flag. If you use this flag, you must also specify a vertex normal, a vertex color component (D3DFVF_DIFFUSE or D3DFVF_SPECULAR), or include at least one set of texture coordinates (D3DFVF_TEX1 through D3DFVF_TEX8).

D3DFVF_XYZRHW

Vertex format includes the position of a transformed vertex. This flag cannot be used with the D3DFVF_XYZ or D3DFVF_NORMAL flags. If you use this flag, you must also specify a vertex color component (D3DFVF_DIFFUSE or D3DFVF_SPECULAR) or include at least one set of texture coordinates (D3DFVF_TEX1 through D3DFVF_TEX8).

D3DFVF_XYZB1 through D3DFVF_XYZB5

Vertex format contains position data, and a corresponding number of weighting (beta) values to be used for multimatrix vertex blending operations. Currently, Direct3D can blend with up to three weighting values (and four blending matrices).

Texture-related FVF flags

D3DFVF_TEX0 through D3DFVF_TEX8

Number of texture coordinate sets for this vertex. The actual values for these flags are not sequential.

D3DFVF_TEXTUREFORMAT1 through D3DFVF_TEXTUREFORMAT4

Number of values that define a texture coordinate set. The D3DFVF_TEXTUREFORMAT1 indicates one-dimensional texture coordinates, D3DFVF_TEXTUREFORMAT2 indicates two-dimensional texture coordinates, and so on. These flags are rarely used alone; they are used with the D3DFVF_TEXCOORDSIZEn macros.

Helper macros

D3DFVF_LVERTEX

Vertex format is equivalent to the D3DLVERTEX vertex type.

D3DFVF_TLVERTEX

Vertex format is equivalent to the D3DTLVERTEX vertex type.

D3DFVF_VERTEX

Vertex format is equivalent to the D3DVERTEX vertex type.

Mask values

D3DFVF_POSITION_MASK

Mask for position bits.

D3DFVF_RESERVED0 and D3DFVF_RESERVED2

Mask values for reserved bits in the flexible vertex format. Do not use.

D3DFVF_RESERVED1,

This bit is reserved to indicate that the system should emulate D3DLVERTEX processing. If this flag is used, the D3DFVF_XYZ, D3DFVF_DIFFUSE, D3DFVF_SPECULAR, and D3DFVF_TEX1 flags must also be used. This equates to the effect of the D3DFVF_LVERTEX helper macro.

D3DFVF_TEXCOUNT_MASK

Mask value for texture flag bits.

Miscellaneous

D3DFVF_TEXCOUNT_SHIFT

The number of bits by which to shift an integer value that identifies the number of a texture coordinates for a vertex. This value might be used as follows:

    DWORD dwNumTextures = 1;  // Vertex has only one set of coordinates.
 
    // Shift the value for use when creating an FVF combination.
    dwFVF = dwNumTextures<<D3DFVF_TEXCOUNT_SHIFT;
 
    /*
     * Now, create an FVF combination using the shifted value.
     */

The following example shows some other common flag combinations:

    // Lightweight, untransformed vertex for lit, untextured,
    // Gouraud-shaded content.
    dwFVF = ( D3DFVF_XYZ | D3DFVF_DIFFUSE );
 
    // Untransformed vertex for unlit, untextured, Gouraud-shaded 
    // content with diffuse material color specified per vertex.
    dwFVF = ( D3DFVF_XYZ | D3DFVF_NORMAL | D3DFVF_DIFFUSE );
 
    // Untransformed vertex for light-map-based lighting.
    dwFVF = ( D3DFVF_XYZ | D3DFVF_TEX2 );
 
    // Transformed vertex for light-map-based lighting 
    // with shared rhw.
    dwFVF = ( D3DFVF_XYZRHW | D3DFVF_TEX2 );
 
    // Heavyweight vertex for unlit, colored content with two 
    // sets of texture coordinates.
    dwFVF = ( D3DFVF_XYZ | D3DFVF_NORMAL | D3DFVF_DIFFUSE | 
              D3DFVF_SPECULAR | D3DFVF_TEX2 );

See Also

About Vertex Formats, Geometry Blending