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HUD Controls

When you start debugging your graphics application with NVIDIA Nsight Graphics, the target computer will begin running the application. You will notice several performance graphs and a HUD toolbar overlaid on top of your application. At this point, your application is considered to be in run mode.

The HUD can be used to run the following experiments while in run mode:

Depth complexity view: shows the amount of overdraw in the scene.
2x2 textures: shows if the application is texture-bound.
Null scissor rectangle: helps to determine if the application is pixel-bound.
Minimum geometry: draws everything in the scene normally, but only draws the first triangle of each draw call. This test shows if the application is GPU or CPU bound. If the frame rate does not go up when going into minimum geometry, it's likely CPU-bound. If the frame rate does increase, the application is GPU-bound.

There are two different methods to pause the application, which causes it to enter Frame Debugger mode.

Press CTRL+Z and the spacebar on the target machine; or
Go to the main toolbar and select Pause and Capture Frame.

After you enter Replay Mode, you will see several features overlaid on top of the application, such as timelines of draw call events and performance markers. Perhaps the most notable of these features is the HUD Toolbar, which allows you to work with your application on the target computer itself.

HUD ICON	DEFINITION
	Hides the GUI so you can view more of your application.
	Switches between a hardware and software cursor.
	Displays the Help menu, showing all available commands.
	Selects a view of event ranges.
	Exits the frame debugger and resumes your application.
	Saves a frame capture to a file. By default, files are saved to: `Documents\NVIDIA Nsight Graphics\Captures`
	Changes the current object wireframe rendering method.
	Changes the current render target display from the color buffer to depth or stencil.
	Toggle the normalization view of the texture display.