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Very complex. On inverted rubbers pip structure clearly plays a big role and it is probably not exactly the same as for pips out rubbers. By big effect, I mean on how the rubber plays, not whether or not the top is grippy or tacky. Manufacturers can vary the pip length, overall shape and density. All those things affect how rubber plays, and so you can imagine, there are an almost infinite number of permutations that could affect things. The pips can be long or short; wide or narrow; cylindrical or more conical; and I have seen some that are more circular and others more or less hexagonal. The Tenergy rubbers; T25, T05, T64, and T80 vary ONLY in the pip structures. The topsheets and sponges are identical (well actually you can get all of them with a softer FX sponge also, but that is another matter). T25 has very wide pips. T05, T64 and T80, it is a little difficult to describe how their pips are different, it is easier to look at the pictures on the Btfly website. T25 has an overall harder feel because of the unusually wide pips, and it is much better for close to the table play. T64 is the fastest, and it throws the ball a little longer and not as high as T05, and feels slightly softer. T05 gives a ball with more arc, and T80 is somewhere between T64 and T05. T64 and T05 are the ones that have caught on most among pro players. Some people like T05 on the forehand and prefer T64 on the backhand. I can easily feel the difference between 25, 64 and 05.
Other manufacturers have come up with blade series that have different pip shapes. Narrower longer pips make a rubber a little more unpredictable but can increase its explosiveness.
Nexy has created Karis M and M+ to more or less eliminate the contribution of pips. The ITTF says inverted rubbers have to have them, so Karis made them so short as to contribute almost nothing. That rubber is extremely predictable, but lacks some of the explosive speed and spin-generating characteristics of the other rubbers. I personally like it, not everyone will.
I think the only way to know for sure how certain pips structures and geometries affect how inverted rubbers play is through empirical observation. This is because it is possible to vary so many different things about the pips, and they would all have at least some impact. And of course, that impact could vary depending on the hardness of the underlying sponge, and the tackiness of the outer surface. If people you know have different kinds of Tenergy (which is very grippy but not tacky), you can get a feel for it yourself if you are really curious about it. Back in 2008 when Tenergy came out, it really surprised me from that series how big of an impact pip differences could have.
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Butterfly Viscaria Black tag
2.2 mm Nexy Karis M on FH and BH
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