Hi guys,
How does Active Shade treat mip maps?
Best Regards,
LK
I would say yes, but can you be more specific ? Is that RT CPU or GPU engine? Are you using the V-Ray HDRI map loader?
Im reffering to GPU. Does cpu also make use of mipmaps? Whats the difference between VrayHDRI wih native max bitmap loader?
Does cpu also make use of mipmaps?
Yes.
Whats the difference between VrayHDRI wih native max bitmap loader?
The first one is our bitmap loader, optimized for 16/32 bit exr’s, vrimg textures and provides better performance.
Would you say you recommend always using VRayHDRI loader instead of the regular max one?
The V-Ray HDRI map can completely replace the Native Max Bitmap loader for the supported image file formats and it’s definitely the best choice.
I’ve heard this about Vray HDRI map being better to use than the default Max bitmap map. Can you please let me know why and in which aspects? Or maybe link to a thread that answers this question. Thanks.
I’ll try to point the most important things.
It’s optimized to work with High-dynamic-range image file formats, tiled/mipmap EXR’s, better memory management (VrayHDRI loads bitmaps on request not at the start of the rendering like the native bitmap), it has more parameters, options and controls, e.t.c.
Furthermore it’s more reliable when working with different Gamma settings and modes in network or DR rendering. I remember a few issues with the native Max Bitmap loader.
Thanks for the info. So would it be correct to say that it’s best to always use Vray’s bitmap loader over the standard one whenever possible? So Vray’s loader conserves memory but which one renders faster or is there no difference?
So would it be correct to say that it’s best to always use Vray’s bitmap loader over the standard one whenever possible?
You can do that, yes.
So Vray’s loader conserves memory but which one renders faster or is there no difference?
I don’t know if there will be any noticeable difference in the render speed. You can test on one of the scenes you are working on. Just run the V-Ray bitmap to V-Ray HDRI from the context menu.
Ok. Good thing there’s a converter, I’m eager to try it out and check how they compare. 
Hi guys.. all this info are great and much appreciated!
Im still left with the question though… Active Shade GPU does make use of MipMaps?
not sure if this was ment to answer my question:
Does cpu also make use of mipmaps?
Yes.
Just to make sure i understand correctly!
Best Regards
LK
RT GPU uses mipmap levels of the textures only when it’s set as Production renderer and the “GPU textures” dropdown is set to “On demand mip-mapped textures”. RT in ActiveShade doesn’t have that mode (you can choose only Full or Resize textures there).
Thank you!
Best Regards
LK