---
title: Display
order: 4
---

The Display panel sets how new targets look, limits rendering to a region, and controls the proxy meshes and the stored mesh-shape data.

![the Display panel with its Proxy sub-panel](../assets/rendersettings-display.webp)

## Settings

| Setting | Default | Range | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Outline** | *None* | *None*, *Wire*, *Bounds* | How a newly made cutter or Emboss / Engrave target is displayed: unchanged, as wire edges, or as a box. |
| **Show Bounds** | off | | Show Blender's bounding box on every newly made cutter or Emboss / Engrave target. |
| **Render Region** | on | | Render only inside Blender's render border (`Ctrl + B` draws it, `Ctrl + Alt + B` clears it), as Cycles does. |

### Proxy

| Setting | Default | Range | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Proxy Mode** | *Armesher* | *None*, *Armesher* | *Armesher* keeps a [proxy mesh](#proxy-mesh) of each object that carries Chisel modifiers. *None* keeps the object's base mesh as it is. |
| **Proxy Voxel Size** | `0.05 m` | `0.001 – 10` (soft `0.005 – 1`) | The detail of the proxy mesh. With *Adaptive* on, it is the size for a 2 m object. Greyed out while *Proxy Mode* is *None*. |
| **Adaptive** | on | | Scale *Proxy Voxel Size* with each object's size, so every proxy has about the same detail. |
| **Store SDF Bakes in File** | on | | Save the grids of [mesh shapes](../primitives/mesh.md) in the `.blend`, so the file reopens without baking them again. |
| **SDF Store Budget (MB)** | `256` | `1 – 2048` | The largest grid that may be stored, compressed. Greyed out while *Store SDF Bakes in File* is off. |

Once the file holds stored grids, a line under the budget reads, for example, *Stored in file: 3 grid(s), 41 MB*.

## Render switch and cutters

The **Render** switch in *Object Properties ▸ SDF* decides whether Chisel renders an object. A [Boolean](../joins/boolean.md), Emboss or Engrave turns it off on its new target. An object with *Render* off still shows as its mesh, wire or box, and a visible one draws a [cutter outline](../interface/gizmos.md#cutter-outlines) in the colour of its modifier dot.

## Proxy mesh

The proxy is a low-resolution mesh of the shape. *Solid* shading, *EEVEE* and *Cycles* draw it, and snapping and selection use it. A shape without modifiers shows its own base mesh instead.

- It updates by itself after every edit, once you stop moving.
- While you drag a shape that reshapes another, the other's proxy is hidden until the drag ends.
- Changing *Proxy Voxel Size* or *Adaptive* rebuilds every proxy; [Rebuild Mesh](../operations.md#rebuild-mesh) rebuilds the selection's.

> [!tip] Snapping off the surface
> Snapping and selection use the proxy. If they feel off, lower *Proxy Voxel Size*.

## Mesh-SDF storage

[Convert to SDF](../operations.md#convert-to-sdf), *Rebake SDF* and [Apply Modifiers](../operations.md#apply-modifiers) refuse a resolution whose grid would be larger than *SDF Store Budget*. A file whose grids were not stored opens without freezing: each shape shows as a [placeholder box](../primitives/mesh.md#when-a-grid-does-not-fit) until its grid has baked again.

## Local view and hidden collections

- **Local view** (numpad `/`) and *Local Collections* render only the shapes in view. A cutter left outside keeps cutting.
- **A collection hidden with its eye** hides its shapes in the viewport; a cutter in it keeps cutting. [F12](f12-render.md) ignores the eye and follows *Disable in Renders*.

## Overlays

On Blender 5.3 and newer, the grid, outlines and other overlays meet the Chisel surface itself; on older versions they meet the proxy mesh.

> [!warning] Native library mismatch
> If the proxy reports a *version mismatch*, click **Update Native Libraries** in [Preferences](../preferences.md) and restart Blender.