diff --git a/renderdocui/Windows/TextureViewer.cs b/renderdocui/Windows/TextureViewer.cs
index 9d44eadcb..7179c43e8 100644
--- a/renderdocui/Windows/TextureViewer.cs
+++ b/renderdocui/Windows/TextureViewer.cs
@@ -2588,15 +2588,23 @@ namespace renderdocui.Windows
 
             hist.Show(DockPanel);
 
-            m_Core.Renderer.BeginInvoke((ReplayRenderer r) =>
+            // add a short delay so that controls repainting after a new panel appears can get at the
+            // render thread before we insert the long blocking pixel history task
+            var delayedHistory = new BackgroundWorker();
+            delayedHistory.DoWork += delegate
             {
-                history = r.PixelHistory(CurrentTexture.ID, (UInt32)m_PickedPoint.X, (UInt32)m_PickedPoint.Y);
-                
-                this.BeginInvoke(new Action(() =>
+                Thread.Sleep(100);
+                m_Core.Renderer.BeginInvoke((ReplayRenderer r) =>
                 {
-                    hist.SetHistory(history);
-                }));
-            });
+                    history = r.PixelHistory(CurrentTexture.ID, (UInt32)m_PickedPoint.X, (UInt32)m_PickedPoint.Y);
+
+                    this.BeginInvoke(new Action(() =>
+                    {
+                        hist.SetHistory(history);
+                    }));
+                });
+            };
+            delayedHistory.RunWorkerAsync();
         }
 
         private void debugPixel_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)