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Saving time by prerendering nested compositions


    A complex nested composition can take a long time to preview and render. If you have a nested composition that you do not expect to work on any further, render the nested composition into a movie and use it as a proxy for the actual nested composition. As a rendered movie, it will require less calculation and time to display and render in the larger project. You can still make changes to the prerendered composition, because the original nested composition remains in the project list. If you make a significant change to the original nested composition, simply render it again. Prerendering a nested composition is particularly beneficial when you use a nested composition multiple times in a project.

    Using a prerendered movie in place of a nested composition also saves time and memory when you render the final version of the main composition. Just be sure to apply your final output settings when you prerender the nested composition. For more information about rendering options, see Changing render settings.

    There are three phases to prerendering a composition:

To edit a prerendered composition:

  1. In the Project window, click the proxy indicator for the prerendered composition until it displays an empty box. This turns off the proxy so that After Effects uses the actual composition in the project.
  2. In the Project window, double-click the composition from which the proxy movie was rendered.
  3. Edit the composition.
  4. Save the project.
  5. Render the composition into a movie again, using the same filename as the previous version of the movie.
  6. After rendering is complete, set up the movie as a proxy for the composition. The next time you view the composition containing the movie, the new movie is displayed.