How To Make Adobe After Effects Preview Faster

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If you use Adobe After Effects, you probably know the feeling of waiting for your designs to preview. This can be a lengthy process, especially with more challenging projects. Luckily, we have some tips to help speed up the preview in After Effects, which we’ll share in this blog post. Let’s get started!

1. Lower the Resolution

One of the easiest ways to speed up your After Effects preview is by lowering the resolution. By doing this, you’ll reduce the amount of processing power required to render the preview. Here’s how:

  1. Go to the “Preview Panel.”
  2. Find the “Resolution” dropdown.
  3. Select a lower value, such as “Half” or “Third.”

2. Use the Region of Interest Tool

The Region of Interest tool allows you to select a specific area of your composition to render, which can significantly speed up your preview times if you’re working on a particular section of your design. Here’s how to do it:

  1. Click on the “Region of Interest” button at the bottom of the composition panel.
  2. Draw a box around the area you want to focus on.

3. Purge your Memory

Another effective method is to purge your memory, which clears out the RAM Preview and Disk Cache. This can significantly speed up your previews, especially if you haven’t purged in a while.

To do this, navigate to Edit > Purge > All Memory & Disk Cache.

4. Adjust Disk Cache Settings

The Disk Cache feature in After Effects allows the program to store previews in a dedicated folder on your hard drive, rather than in your computer’s RAM. This can be very useful if you’re running low on memory. You can adjust these settings as follows:

  1. Go to Edit > Preferences > Media & Disk Cache.
  2. Enable “Disk Cache” and choose a dedicated folder on your hard drive.
  3. Set the Maximum Disk Cache Size to a high value, like half the capacity of your hard drive.

5. Leverage GPU Acceleration

If your computer has a powerful GPU, you can leverage its processing power to speed up your previews in After Effects. To do this, go to File > Project Settings > Video Rendering and Effects, and choose a GPU acceleration option.

Conclusion

Previewing your work should never be a bottleneck in your creative process. With these simple steps, you can significantly boost Adobe After Effects’ preview speed, allowing you to iterate and improve your designs more effectively. Happy designing!