Window > Settings/Preferences > Performance Settings

Lets you select trade-offs between performance and quality, as well as temporarily disable some visual updates to improve interactivity.

Dependency Graph Evaluation

To set when to refresh (or redraw the screen) when manipulating objects, in the Dependency Graph Evaluation section, select one of the following:

Drag: Refreshes the display during the drag.
Demand: Refreshes the display only when you release the mouse button and click the Update button that appears in the bottom right of the display window.
Release: Refreshes the display only when you release the mouse button.

Surfaces options

To control complex operations on surfaces during mouse interaction, in the Surfaces section, select one of the following beside the surface:

Paint Effects

To control the playback of animated Paint Effects brushes or animated strokes, in the Paint Effects section, select one of the following:

On: The scene view refreshes whenever something changes, whether during playback or if a parameter is modified.
Off: A brush won't update until setAttr is run on it.
Interactive: The scene view refreshes when playback ends, or when a parameter is modified.

Deformers options

To control complex operations on deformers during mouse interaction, in the Deformers section, select one of the following beside the surface:

On: Performs complex operations during mouse interactions.
Off: Completely disables complex operations during mouse interaction.
Interactive: Suspends complex operations during mouse interaction.
Per Node: For Cluster Resolution and Lattice Resolution only, improves redraw performance for individual cluster or lattice deformations by setting the Use Partial Resolution attribute to partial and setting the Percent Resolution on a per node basis. For details, see Character Setup.
Global: For Cluster Resolution and Lattice Resolution only, improves the redraw performance of all cluster or lattice deformations. (You do not need to set the Percent Resolution for each cluster or lattice.)

Set Global Cluster Resolution and Global Lattice Resolution to Full, High, Medium, or Low. A Low setting corresponds to a low percentage, and therefore more improved performance.

For more information on surfaces, see NURBS and Polygonal modeling. For more information on deformers, see Character Setup.