HDRI / Cubemap Inspector

HDRI / Cubemap Inspector

Module: Art · Category: Lookdev · Tool ID: HDRICubemapInspector

Project-wide audit of every TextureCube and HDR Texture2D asset. Surfaces resolution, format, memory cost per asset, and whether each is power-of-two. Flags cubemaps below a configurable minimum resolution — useful for catching reflection captures that were accidentally authored too small.

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When to use it

• Lookdev audit — confirming all cubemaps and HDRIs are at appropriate resolution
• Memory budget pass — finding oversized HDRIs on platforms where memory is tight
• After importing third-party HDRI packs — checking for non-power-of-two surprises
• Pre-cook validation — reflection captures need to be POT and a reasonable resolution

When not to use it

• Don’t use this for runtime cubemap streaming — it’s asset-side analysis
• Don’t expect this to render the cubemap — for that, double-click to open in the Texture editor

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Opening the tool

1. Open the EQLabs Hub and search for HDRI or Cubemap (or browse to Art → Lookdev)
2. Click the tool card
3. Set scan path and minimum cubemap resolution
4. Click Scan

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Interface tour

Section	What it does	Default
Scan Path	Folder to recursively scan	/Game
Min Cubemap Res	Cubemap resolution below which the asset is flagged	256
Search box	Filter by asset name	empty
Scan button	Walks the path, builds the entry list
Copy button	Plain-text dump of visible results
Summary	Total cubemaps / total HDRIs / issue count
Results list	Per-asset row: name, type (TextureCube / Texture2D HDR), size X/Y, format, size MB, POT flag, issues, severity

What gets flagged

Severity	Issue
Error	Severe issues (corrupt asset, missing format)
Warning	Below minimum resolution, non-POT, unusual format
Info	Just informational — no action needed

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Workflow

Step 1 — Pick a scan path

Default /Game for the whole project. Narrow to a folder for a focused audit.

Step 2 — Set Min Cubemap Resolution

256 is a sensible minimum for most reflection captures. Drop to 128 if you have low-end targets, raise to 512+ for high-end reflection-heavy scenes.

Step 3 — Scan

Click Scan. Both TextureCube and HDR Texture2D assets appear in the same list.

Step 4 — Walk the issues

Sort or filter to see flagged rows. Single-click pings the asset; double-click opens it in the Texture editor.

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Settings reference

Field	What it does	Default
Scan Path	Folder to scan	/Game
Min Cubemap Res	Resolution flag threshold	256
Search	Substring filter	empty

Settings are persisted to [Project]/Saved/EQLabs/Settings/HDRICubemapInspector.json.

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Output

• In-panel results — cleared on each rescan
• Clipboard — Copy button writes results as plain text
• No edits — read-only audit

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Tips & gotchas

• Non-POT HDRIs are not always wrong — UE handles non-POT HDRIs reasonably, but mipmap generation can be unpredictable. If quality matters, prefer POT.
• HDR format (.hdr / .exr) imports as Texture2D in UE — this tool catches both TextureCube and bIsHDR Texture2D assets.
• 256×256 reflection captures are visible as low-res in glossy materials — the Min Resolution flag is intentionally conservative; raise it for projects with hero reflections.
• Single-click pings the asset; double-click opens the Texture editor.

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Related tools

• Color Palette Extractor — extract color values from HDR references for material setup

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