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Set Vred to startup in Raytracing Mode -
Add this line to the Script window in the Preferences - Script window
setRenderQuality(VR_QUALITY_RAYTRACING)
I do not know if there is a simple option for this in the preferences but I just add this to the script list.
I never use OpenGL mode and when you have a big file with a few cars in it and it opens with OpenGL mode it can be very slow to load.
Be sure to check out over 160 VRED Professional tutorial videos on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/VREDPRO
How to see what settings (per part) you used when calculating Ambient Occlusion:
Select the geometry.
In the Ambient Occlusion window, click on Settings > Load from Node (see settings update).