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1)  Hiding part of the mesh.  When I was confronted with the challenge of fitting a couple of eyeballs into a head, I realized that I needed to hide part of the mesh in order to be able to see the edges of the eyelids from the right angle.  Well, this is incredibly easy.  In edit mode just select the vertices you want to hide, and then hit the letter H!  To show all the mesh again, press Alt H.  To hide the de-selected vertices, press Shift H.

Alt - B works good as well  (At least for blender 2.49 and below) .  Alt - B, select the part of the 3D view you wish to isolate and the rest is hidden.  Hides everything outside of the selected area, other objects, lights, etc.    Alt-B again to restore the view.

Reddog9
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