
However the next RAM Preview that's run is considerably faster than the previous preview, despite the change. We decided to add an effect to our comp, CC Mr Smoothie from the Stylize menu, and as is normal, the green line disappears as the cached composition has now been changed. You can run Cache Work Area In Background to cache one composition to disk while working on another, while the Persistent Disk Cache facility means that cached frames are preserved even when the project is closed Hands on with Adobe After Effects CS6 However the ray tracer renderer will deliver a very decent level of photorealistic quality using only the power of the CPU, so don't let this put you off upgrading.

It's also worth noting that the ray tracer does not support layer styles and certain masks and effects, nor is underlying transparency preserved, or tasks like lighting blending modes and track mattes supported. This may be problematic for those on a MacBook Pro or Windows laptop. And we'll probably have to invest in an NVIDIA Quadra card or similar after being tempted by the thought of GPU-accelerated ray-traced 3D rendering. We don't like the fact that Photoshop Video Layers and Pixel Bender are not presently supported. Having sung the praises of After Effects CS6, there were things we weren't so keen on.

Variable mask feathering has been long requested by the AE faithful, so that patience has been finally rewarded. The 3D camera tracker and ray tracer renderer are also very welcome additions, probably the Wow features in this release, though it has to be said we have a soft spot for the Illustrator integration too. As such it's worth, to a deadline-conscious compositor at least, the cost of an upgrade - or Creative Cloud subscription- in itself.

The Global Performance Cache is amazing, as it basically means that you have much more power to experiment with effects without waiting around for the rendering of your PC to catch up.
