Ensure File > Project Settings > Video Rendering and Effects is set to "Mercury GPU Acceleration". To make this guide more useful, let me know:

This draft guide focuses on , a version released in June 2021. It was a stable release within the 2021 cycle, offering key performance updates before the 2022 (v22.0) overhaul. 1. Key Features in 18.x Cycle

Initial improvements to rendering, allowing AE to use all CPU cores for faster exports. Specular Bloom: Enhanced lighting effects.

Go to Edit > Purge > All Memory & Disk Cache frequently.

Intel 6th Generation or newer/AMD Ryzen 1000 series or newer (AVX2 support required). 3. Essential Workflow