Adobe After Effects CS3 User Manual

Page 126

AFTER EFFECTS CS3

User Guide

121

Use RAM preview

RAM preview allocates RAM to play video and audio in the Timeline, Layer, or Footage panel in real time. The
number of frames that can be stored for real-time playback depends on the amount of RAM available to the appli-
cation and the settings in the Time Controls panel.

In the Time Controls panel, you can specify two sets of RAM preview options: RAM Preview Options and
Shift+RAM Preview Options. For example, you may decide to set RAM Preview Options for full frame rate and full
resolution, and set Shift+RAM Preview Options to skip one out of every two frames and preview at half resolution.

In the Layer and Footage panels, RAM previews play untrimmed footage.

To modify RAM preview options, click the RAM Preview Options menu in the center of the Time Controls panel

and choose RAM Preview Options or Shift+RAM Preview Options. You can change any of the following:

Mute Audio

Include or exclude audio from RAM preview.

Frame Rate

Choose Auto to use the composition frame rate.

Skip

The number of frames to skip between each rendered frame. Choose 0 to render all frames.

Resolution

Choose Auto to use the composition resolution.

From Current Time

Select From Current Time to play from the current time; otherwise, RAM Preview will play the

work area or from the beginning of the composition, layer, or footage item.

Full Screen

Play RAM preview at the full size of the composition, layer, or footage item on a screen that is the

background color. You can change the panel’s background color using the User Interface Brightness control in User
Interface Colors preferences.

Do one of the following:

•

To preview using RAM Preview Options, click the RAM Preview button

in the Time Controls panel or press

0 (zero) on the numeric keypad.

•

To preview using Shift+RAM Preview Options, Shift-click the RAM Preview button

in the Time Controls

panel or press Shift+0 (zero) on the numeric keypad.

Press the asterisk key (*) on the numeric keypad during a RAM preview to place a layer marker on the selected layers
at the currently previewed frame. This is a convenient way to place markers corresponding to important points in an

audio track.

Note: The performance of RAM previews performed with the Render Multiple Frames Simultaneously preference
selected may be decreased if antivirus software is running. (See “Render multiple frames simultaneously” on page 40.)

Save a RAM preview as a movie

After Effects can save RAM previews as uncompressed AVI files (Windows) or MOV files (Mac OS). When saving
a RAM preview, keep the following in mind:

•

After Effects uses the composition frame size and resolution setting to determine the final dimension in pixels of
a saved RAM preview. It doesn’t consider the zoom level.

•

RAM preview doesn’t generate interlaced fields, so a saved RAM preview never contains fields.

Note: The 3D View of the active composition panel must be set to Active Camera for Save RAM Preview to work, even
if the composition doesn’t contain 3D layers.

After you generate a RAM preview, choose Composition > Save RAM Preview.

Type a name, specify a location, and click Save.