After Effects CS6 Rendering 1080p HD MP4 Guide -
14 Tips for Faster Rendering in After Effect
After Effects
Motion Graphics
Roundups
Video Editing
Speed up your rendering times in After Effects with these quick tips.
Rendering is an annoying (but unavoidable) aspect of the motion graphics process. However there are a few steps you can take to make your After Effects renders as fast as possible.
1. Use the Right Graphics Card
After Effects is an incredibly intense program for your graphics card (no surprise, right?) And while there may be hundreds of graphics cards available for your computer, only a few are recommended by Adobe to run After Effects. Adobe specifically recommends certain GeForce, Quadro, and Tesla cards. You can find the full list on the system requirements page on Adobe’s website. If you’re using a sub-par card, you’ll likely see an instant render speed increase when you switch.
2. Upgrade Your RAM
Random Accesss Memory
If you work day in and day out in After Effects then upgrading your RAM is the way to go. Adobe recommends at least 4GB of RAM to run After Effects, but you’ll benefit from much more than that. It’s not uncommon for professional AE users to have 32GB of RAM or more.
3. Use a Solid-State Drive
SSD
A solid state drive is a quick way to increase not only rendering speed in After Effects, but also the overall speed of your computer in general. If you purchased your internal or external hard drive for less than $100 it’s time for an upgrade. With a solid state drive After Effects will be able to load assets, reference the cache, and load effects much faster….all leading to reduced render times.
4. Use Two Hard Drives
Multiple Hard Drives
When you render your footage to the same hard-drive your project is saved on, you are forcing that hard-drive to perform two operations simultaneously: read and write. While this doesn’t lead to render times that are twice as slow, it does lead to reduced render times. Instead, try using one hard drive to run the program with assets and another hard drive to render the finished video.