Use the Bitmap Performance And Memory Menu to manage proxies and bitmap paging.
The Proxy system lets you determine how 3ds Max should create and use proxy versions of bitmaps incorporated in materials. Proxies are intended for use primarily in the viewports when building and editing scenes to reduce the amount of memory required by the bitmapped textures, but you can also use them at render time. This menu also gives you control over bitmap paging.
Toggles the Proxy system globally. When on, 3ds Max replaces all bitmaps used in materials with proxies as specified on the Bitmap Proxies dialog. When off, the original bitmaps are used.
When on, enables bitmap paging for large texture maps and large rendered output. Default=on.
This toggle is a shortcut to the Page Large Images To Disk option on the Bitmap Proxies dialog.
Opens the Bitmap Proxies dialog.
Opens the Per-Bitmap version of the Bitmap Proxies dialog for setting the resolution for proxies of only those bitmap assets highlighted in the Asset Tracking dialog. Available only when one or more bitmap assets are highlighted.
Generates the proxy image files as specified. When one or more image assets are highlighted in the Asset Tracking dialog list, the command is Generate Selected Proxies, and applies only to those assets. When no asset is highlighted, the command is Generate Stale Proxies, and applies to all assets whose settings, such as proxy resolution, have changed since the previous generation, as well as any assets whose proxies are missing.