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derrick_2074
Participant
Jul 11, 2025 11:39 PM UTC
Question

Preview quality being higher than wanted?

When I preview I have it set as 'quarter', (this is also the same in the preview panel), but when i start previewing it goes to full, and makes it difficult to watch as it takes a considerable amount of time to render in real-time at 'full' quality. I'm not sure why it's doing this.

5 replies

David.Arbor
Community Manager
David.ArborCommunity Manager
Community Manager
Jul 17, 2025 5:31 PM UTC

Auto in the Preview panel will match your Comp panel's resolution. You can confirm this by doing something like:

 

  1. Create a new solid and apply Fractal Noise and CC Vector Blur.
  2. Set the Comp panel to 75% zoom but Quarter resolution.
  3. Crank up the Vector Blur so you see a lot of low res artifacts.
  4. Set your Preview shortcut's resolution to (Auto).

 

If (Auto) in the Preview panel worked the same way as it does in the Comp panel, the preview would render at Full res. But you should see it stay at Quarter res.

 

Let me know if you see something different,

-David, After Effects Engineering Team 

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thepixelsmith
Community Expert
thepixelsmithCommunity Expert
Community Expert
Jul 17, 2025 1:26 PM UTC

@David.Arbor 
Just a clarification, I thought the (Auto) option made the Resolution/Downsample automatically adjust based on the Magnification of the Comp panel? Am I mistaken?

 

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Jerron Smith | www.thepixelsmith.com
David.Arbor
Community Manager
David.ArborCommunity Manager
Community Manager
Jul 15, 2025 3:44 PM UTC

Hey @derrick_2074 , as @thepixelsmith said, you can customize different Preview shortcuts. Check out the first screenshot—these are my settings for the previewing with the Spacebar. The Resolution is set to "Auto," which means it's going to match my Comp's resolution. However, if I preview with the numPad 0 key (second screenshot), you can see that it will always preview in Half res, regardless of my Comp's resolution.

 

Does this explain what you're seeing?

 

Thanks,
- David, After Effects Engineering Team

 

 

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thepixelsmith
Community Expert
thepixelsmithCommunity Expert
Community Expert
Jul 13, 2025 2:27 PM UTC

How are you previewing it, keyboard shortcut or button in the preview panel?

There are a couple different keyboard shortcuts and they can all be set to preview differently in the Preview panel.

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Jerron Smith | www.thepixelsmith.com
    Kevin J. Monahan Jr.
    Kevin J. Monahan Jr.
    Legend
    Jul 11, 2025 11:51 PM UTC

    Hello @derrick_2074,

    Welcome to the forum and thanks for filing this bug. I hope the product team will respond shortly. Please give them more details about your case. See: How to Report a Problem.

     

    Thanks,

    Kevin

     

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    Kevin Monahan - Sr. Community and Engagement Strategist – Adobe Pro Video and Audio
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