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Setting image caching preferences


    As you work on a composition, After Effects temporarily stores rendered composition and source images in RAM, so that previewing and editing can occur more quickly. For example, once you view a specific frame in a composition, that frame is stored in RAM until you run out of memory or until you edit the composition in some way that affects that frame. You can control how After Effects stores images in RAM by setting different image-caching preferences. The controls available differ on Mac OS and Windows systems.

To specify image caching (Windows):

  1. Choose Edit > Preferences > Cache.
  2. For Image Cache Size, type a value to set the maximum amount of installed RAM to use for cached frames. The default value is 60%. Values over 90% are not recommended.
  3. For Maximum Memory Usage, type a value to set the maximum amount of memory to use for any purpose. You can specify values over 100% (where 100% equals the amount of physical RAM you have installed) because virtual memory uses hard-disk space. However, values over 200% are not recommended.
  4. Click OK.
  5. Note: The Image Cache Size setting directly affects the number of frames that you can play back in RAM preview. Increase the value to play back more frames. Decrease it if you notice that your RAM previews jerk and halt during playback. This jerky playback often occurs because of virtual memory paging activity, which is affected by the memory usage the other applications you have running.

To specify image caching (Mac OS):

  1. Choose Edit > Preferences > Cache.
  2. For Image Cache Size, type a value (as described in step 3 of the procedure for specifying image caching on Windows, above in this topic).
  3. For Mode, select one of the following options:
    • Select Favor Memory to have After Effects rearrange the image cache and make it more compact as you work, ensuring the most memory-efficient rendering. This option favors memory over speed, and may noticeably slow down After Effects.
    • Select Favor Speed to have After Effects rearrange the image cache only when it's almost out of memory. This option significantly speeds up the editing and rendering processes, but you may run out of memory sooner.
  4. Click OK.
  5. No matter which setting you choose, After Effects makes the image cache more compact when you choose About Adobe After Effects, when you perform a RAM preview, or when you are between renders in the Render Queue.