AutoCAD 2008 User's
Guide > Control the Drawing
Views > Change
Views > Shade a Model and
Use Edge Effects > Control
Performance >
Adaptive Degradation
Adaptive degradation is a way to control performance of features as you use them.
With adaptive degradation on, if performance goes below the level you specify, effects are turned off or turned down in a certain order until performance returns to an acceptable level. Each visual style sets a degradation order appropriate for itself, based on a master order that you can adjust manually.
You set the performance level in frames per second in the Adaptive Degradation and Performance Tuning dialog box. You can also control the order in which features are turned off when performance slows. For example, if you’re working on your model with a visual style that has shadows and a background, you can move Shadows and Backgrounds to the top of the list so that they degrade first and preserve edge effects that you need while drafting.
