Interpolator

I'm not quite sure what you mean by the different type of interpolators. Perhaps if you could give some reference to them in the SDK, I could be of more assistance.

If you are talking about semantics (like float4 position : POSITION), then you should definetly be matching semantics to the correct input. From the SDK:

Quote:

In some cases, they [semantics] have a special interpretation. For example, an element that specifies D3DDECLUSAGE_NORMAL or D3DDECLUSAGE_POSITION is used by the N-patch tessellator to set up tessellation.

This means that certain semantics are used to identify shader inputs that require further processing. You don't want to process inputs that shouldn't be.

Quote:

D3DDECLUSAGE_TEXCOORD can be used for user-defined fields (which don't have an existing usage defined).

If you have a custom input you want, you should use the texcoord semantic.

I'm saying, are there any differences to the two following vert decl


One will pass a float4 to the vertex shader through POSITION0 and the other will pass the exact same data but through BLENDINDICES0.

Will the result be exactly the same? Is yes, that means that POSITION0, BLENDINDICES0, etc, are mainly there for ease of use of the shader? I though there may be some precision differences between them, but I guess after thinking about it that doesn't make any sense.