The Viewing Area is the large panel where active objects appear.
Frame Layouts for the Viewing Area
The Viewing Area can be partitioned into one, two, three, or four frames. Each frame displays a unique view of the active object. To change the number of frames, use the icons at View > Frame Layout or in frame layout toolbar that usually appear on the right side of the Viewing Area.
Displaying Accessories in the Viewing Area
Accessories help the user maintain understanding of an object while it is being rotated, magnified, or panned, Accessories never affect object data. Accessories include arcs, axes, backgrounds, ground plane and shadows.
Rotation Arcs - help the user perceive rotation. Toggle this feature with the Show Arcs checkbox at Tools > Options > Display > Navigation (applicable only when the Mode is Spherical).
Other Accessories - including axes, lighting, depth attenuation, depth plane, and front plane, are on the Display Manager.
More Accessories - including ground plane and background appearance, are controlled at Tools > Options > Display > Accessories.
More Tips
Some functions utilize tracker text, which is the descriptive or informative text that appears to the left of the progress bar at the bottom of the main window.
To zoom in on any portion of the object in the Viewing Area, put the mouse cursor on the point of interest and use the mouse wheel.
To change the direction of the virtual lighting source, use Alt-LeftMouse drag.
To bring the front and back clipping planes closer together without obscuring the model, use Tools > Options > Graphics > Picking Options. Lowering the value in the Visual Range box helps some graphics cards improve depth resolution.
To reduce the number of points or polygons that the graphics hardware must render during complex operations, adjust the values in the Display Manager at Display % (Static / Dynamic).