You can create a proxy as a stand-in for an asset in your scene. This is useful to temporarily simplify complex scenes by substituting simpler geometry while still allowing you to work with an asset’s published attributes. For more information on proxy assets see Assets and File Referencing.
A proxy file is created. The proxy file consists of a locator representing the asset’s selection transform node and an additional locator for each parent or child anchor for the asset (if any).
Once you have created the proxy file, you can then display the proxy file instead of the referenced file in the main scene.
The referenced asset’s geometry is replaced with the proxy asset’s geometry and locators. However, you can still access all the asset’s published attributes and nodes.
If you open the Reference Editor (File > Reference Editor), referenced files with associated proxies appear with a small proxy icon next to their name.