Material Editor > Show Map in Viewport
Material Editor menu > Material menu > Show Map in Viewport
Show Map In Viewport displays mapped materials on the surfaces of objects in viewports with the interactive renderer.
The following conditions must be met for mapped materials to display in the viewport:
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Mapping coordinates must be applied to the object. This is already the case with most primitive objects, which by default have Generate Mapping Coords on at creation. If an object doesn't have mapping coordinates, you can turn this on, or apply a mapped material to the object (if it has a Generate Mapping Coords check box), or apply a UVW Map modifier or an Unwrap UVW modifier.
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Show Map In Viewport must be on, either at the level of the material that contains the map, or at the top level of the material.
Tip: Displaying mapped materials in a viewport can slow performance. If you don't need to view the map, turn off its viewport display.
Note: With the software display driver, viewports don't accurately display a map with transparency that has UV tiling or mirroring. Also, this driver cannot display a map on a faceted material.
The state of this button is saved with the material in the library. When you apply a mapped material while Show Map In Viewport is active, the object's Generate Mapping Coords. check box is turned on. This means that you can drag mapped materials from the Material Library in the Browser over objects in your scene, and have the mapped material appear in the viewports.
Tip: You can turn Show Map In Viewport on or off for all materials by choosing Views menu > Activate/Deactivate All Maps.
Note: In the Material/Map Browser and Material/Map Navigator, icons of materials and maps for which Show Map in Viewport is on are red, as shown in the following example:
Show Map In Viewport works for 3D procedural maps as well as 2D maps.
3D map display in viewports is not necessarily accurate. To improve the 3D preview, you can use the Material Editor Options dialog to set the 3D Map Sample Scale to equal a main dimension of the object you are applying the map to. For example, if you want to use the planet map on a sphere with a radius of 20, change the map scale from 100 (the default) to 20.
Particle Age and Particle MBlur maps do not preview in viewports.
Viewports can display multiple maps. For multiple map display, the display driver must be OpenGL or Direct3D. The software display driver does not support multiple map display.
The composite map and mix map support multiple map display.
In addition, turning on Show Map In Viewport at the top level of a standard material lets you view maps on both the diffuse and opacity components (though not on other mapped components).
To view maps interactively:
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In the object's creation parameters, make sure that Generate Mapping Coords. is on. (If this option isn't enabled, the object can't be mapped.)
If the object type does not have a mapping coordinates check box, apply a UVW Map modifier.
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In the Material Editor, apply the mapped material to the object.
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The map appears on objects assigned the material in all shaded viewports. Now when you adjust a map, the viewports update to display the adjustments.