When you open or create a world file, you see four panes with different views into the world. By default, clockwise from the upper left they are Perspective, Top, Left and Front views. Bottom, Right, and Back views are also available. To change the view for a particular pane, point to View Mode on the context menu for that pane and then select your preferred view. Select 4-View Configuration to return to the defaults.

The Perspective View shows a world in all three dimensions, using the x, y, and z axes. The Top and Bottom views show only the x and z axes. The Left and Right views show only the x and y axes. The Front and Back views show only the y and z axes.

The second panel of the status bar, at the bottom of the World Editing window, reports the type and axes of the view currently seen in the pane under the mouse cursor.

To re-size the view panes, drag the horizontal or vertical divider bars. Drag their juncture to change both at once. To return to the default sizes as well as the default views, point to View Mode on the context menu for any pane and then select 4-View Configuration.

An editing grid provides a way to align geometry and objects. To toggle the grid on and off in a particular pane, point to Options on the context menu for that pane and then select Show Edit Grid. To change the granularity of the grid in a particular pane, click once in that pane to give it the focus and then press + or - to increase or decrease the grid size. There are also buttons on the WorldEdit toolbar for changing grid granularity.

• Wireframe Polies: Show polygons as line-connected vertices.
• Flat Polies: Show polygons as solids with each plane in a solid color.
• Textured Polies: Show polygons as solids with each plane displaying its texture (planes without textures display as wireframes).

Showing only wireframes improves the display performance of DEdit. Showing all textures lets you view the world as your players will view it. Showing flat polygon fills is a compromise between performance and view.

You can quickly focus all four view panes on a particular brush or object. To do so, select the item and then click Center on the WorldEdit toolbar. For more information about selecting, see the Selection and Manipulation section.