There is a couple different ways to bring in imagery. You can drag and drop from your image file location (I tend to do this most with PDFs). If you have something that's orthorectified (with a world file) type in MAPIINSERT (with two "I" s). From there you can select your image and your Map 3D or Civil 3D will then give you additional options to bring in the image.
From a workflow standpoint create a drawing file for your "imagery" and xref it to all your main drawings. When you're in your working drawing you can "UNLOAD" your XREF and work away without dealing with regen. Another option is to type REGENAUTO and set this to "OFF" and this will prevent some of the automated regens from happening. When you do have this set to OFF you need to Regen or Regenall when jumping from layout to layout etc. I reset my RE keyboard quick key to REA (Regenall) for this reason alone, as you need to regenall with REGENAUTO set to OFF.
If you are still crashing you likely need to check on your computer settings, min. RAM, and check your hardware acceleration and tuning settings, there is likely something that could be adjusted. Video card could be a problem.
Hope that helps... Good Luck!
![Autodesk Design & Make Report](https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/1350519iCB55845EBFC43016/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999" "Autodesk Design & Make Report")