After Effects Cache Settings

By Sandy on March 26, 2009 12:48 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Do you ever have trouble with your RAM preview being slow? Or do you ever get an Image Buffer Error, such as this one?

It could be because you have your Cache (pronounced cash) set too low. Here is a good way of how to set up your Cache preferences:

First: choose After Effects > Preferences > Cache or for Windows, Edit > Preferences > Cache

Then set any of the following options: Enter an amount for Image Cache Size as a percent of the amount of installed RAM. (The default value is 60%) The amount you enter determines the maximum amount of memory After Effects uses for cached frames. The number of frames that RAM preview displays is also limited by this setting; increase it to get longer RAM Previews, or decrease it if RAM previews are "jerky".

Enter an amount for Maximum Memory Usage as a percent of the amount of installed RAM. (The default is 120%) This setting limits the amount of memory After Effects can use. Increase the amount if "insufficient memory errors" occur.

Don't forget to make sure the Enable Disk Cache box is checked, and the box marked Prevent DLL Address Space Fragmentation

To purge the Cache, make sure that the Timeline window is selected, and choose
Edit > Purge > Image Caches

By making sure you have set After Effects to use the optimal settings, you should be able to avoid "could not create image buffer" errors and alot of headaches!