Adobe AFTER EFFECTS 5.5 Help Manual page 274

Adobe After Effects Help
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Allocate more memory (Mac OS 9.x only) Rendering performance on a Mac OS 9.x
system is significantly affected by the amount of RAM you allocate to After Effects. The
more RAM you allocate, the faster it can render. See "Using RAM effectively" on page 274.
To avoid unnecessary rendering, After Effects stores and reuses rendered layer compo-
nents in RAM. However, it can do this only if there is enough memory available to store the
rendered components.
In general, assign as much memory to After Effects as you can, up to 90% of the largest
unused block. Leave the remaining 10% unused so that the system software has room to
expand when additional system components are loaded.
To allocate more memory to After Effects (Mac OS):
1 Quit After Effects and all other applications.
2 In the Finder, choose About this Computer in the Apple menu.
3 Note the Largest Unused Block value, and then close the dialog box.
4 Click the After Effects application icon (not an alias) and choose File > Get Info >
Memory.
5 In the After Effects Info dialog box for Memory, increase the Preferred Size value, but
don't exceed 90% of the Largest Unused Block value noted previously. Do not change the
Minimum Size value.
6 Close the After Effects Info dialog box.
Using RAM effectively
Occasionally, After Effects may display an alert message indicating that it requires more
memory to display or render a composition. To render more efficiently, it's helpful to
understand how After Effects uses memory and what parts of a composition may be
increasing the memory load. Many variables, such as memory management controlled by
QuickTime or other system software, make it impossible to predict the exact amount of
memory required for displaying or rendering a particular layer. However, you can usually
identify memory-intensive layers with enough certainty to get a composition to render.
When rendering a composition, the following factors determine memory requirements:
The resolution of the composition frame. A higher resolution frame requires more
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memory.
The memory requirement of the most memory-intensive layer in the composition.
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The size of the project file.
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If you have no problems displaying every frame of a full-resolution, best-quality preview of
a composition, then you have enough memory to render the composition. Rendering a
composition into a movie takes somewhat less memory than displaying it on-screen.
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Managing Projects Effectively
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