Hide and show texture tiles on a model

Working with very high resolution textures on models with multiple tiles can quickly use up limited graphics memory when all textures are set to display simultaneously, depending on the number and resolution of the paint layers.

To let you work effectively on models with multiple tiles, Mudbox optimizes the display of textures using the Gigatexel Engine. When the Gigatexel Engine is on (by default), Mudbox automatically loads and unloads textures according to which tiles are currently in front of the camera view, eliminating the need for you to load and unload tiles manually.

NoteYou can still manually control the loading and unloading of tiles when the Gigatexel Engine is turned on. However, the Gigatexel Engine automatically loads and unloads tiles again as soon as you update the 3D View (for example, by tumbling the camera.) If you prefer to turn the Gigatexel Engine off, turn off the Use Gigatexel Engine preference.

To...	Do this
Manually toggle the display of a texture tile on a model	Position the cursor over the texture tile region and press the Up arrow key . This toggles the display of the textures for that one tile region for all paint channels on or off. When a texture tile is turned off, a random color appears in place of the texture to indicate that the tile is currently unloaded.
Hide all texture tiles on a model	Press + (Ctrl + Down arrow key).
Show all texture tiles on a model	Press + (Ctrl + Up arrow key).

To...

Do this

Manually toggle the display of a texture tile on a model

Position the cursor over the texture tile region and press the Up arrow key .

This toggles the display of the textures for that one tile region for all paint channels on or off. When a texture tile is turned off, a random color appears in place of the texture to indicate that the tile is currently unloaded.

Hide all texture tiles on a model

Press + (Ctrl + Down arrow key).

Show all texture tiles on a model

Press + (Ctrl + Up arrow key).

NoteYou can change the default hotkey for toggling the display of texture tiles by selecting Windows > Hotkeys.

Randomly coloring the unloaded tiles lets you determine:

Mudbox is currently optimizing the display of the tiles to save video memory. It also indicates that multiple tiles exist on the model.
The location of each texture tile on the model in relation to one another and which parts of a model are assigned to particular tiles.
Which texture tiles are currently loaded or unloaded on the model so you can selectively load or unload any texture tile(s) when painting as required.

WarningDepending on the number and resolution of texture tiles on your model, showing all of the texture tiles may rapidly use all of the graphics memory on your computer resulting in diminished interactive performance. To learn more about optimizing texture memory, see Graphics memory optimization.