Using OpenGL interactive previewing (6.5)
OpenGL is a hardware-based feature that provides fast screen previewing of a composition without degrading resolution. OpenGL is automatically turned on when you manipulate layers in the Composition or Timeline window and when you scrub through time. You can enable and disable OpenGL from the Fast Previews menu (formerly the Dynamic Preview Acceleration menu) in the Composition window.
After Effects 6.5 adds a new During Interactions Only option to the Fast Previews menu. Deselect the During Interactions Only option to keep OpenGL turned on all the time. Select this option to use OpenGL previews only when you drag a layer around the Composition window, scrub a motion-related property value in the Timeline window, or scrub the current-time indicator or the timecode display in the Timeline window.
After Effects 6.5 also adds a new preference to control the quality of OpenGL previews. OpenGL previews set to More Accurate include blending modes in the preview and improve the quality of lighting, shading and blending.
To set up OpenGL previewing:
- Click the Fast Previews button
in the Composition window. - Choose one of the following from the pop-up menu that appears:
- OpenGL with Moving Textures to preview each frame of the layer.
- OpenGL with Static Textures to preview using a proxy frame. After Effects uses the first frame encountered during previewing as the proxy frame.
- Click the Fast Previews button again, and do one of the following:
- Deselect During Interactions Only to keep OpenGL on all the time.
- Select During Interactions Only to restrict OpenGL to when you drag layers or scrub items in the Timeline window.
To set the quality of OpenGL previews:
- Choose Edit > Preferences > Previews (Windows) or After Effects > Preferences > Previews (Mac OS).
- Click OpenGL Info.
- Choose the desired quality level from the Quality menu.
For more information, see "Using OpenGL interactive previewing" on page 169.