Most nodes don't increase memory use. An ImageMap node does, because it holds the entire image. Any math you do on the image does not generate new images. Instead, each point is calculated on the fly and then discarded when no longer needed. So a purely procedural texture (using no ImageMap nodes) is always going to take up less system memory.

Video memory is irrelevent except for the preview in P7. The renderer is purely software - you don't even need a 3D graphics card to do software rendering.

Also, I think I read that in P7 they know how to cache images better, breaking it up into pieces, so the total memory will not always go up with the total image bytes your dealing with in ImageMaps.

And the "simplified" view of a material is just that - a simplified view. There are still nodes behind it, and an image is an ImageMap.

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Renderosity forum reply notifications are wonky. If I read a follow-up in a thread, but I don't myself reply, then notifications no longer happen AT ALL on that thread. So if I seem to be ignoring a question, that's why. (Updated September 23, 2019)