Proxies, the cache and the viewer’s resolution are yours to use, and a lot more the app does on its own. Here is how they work, and where their files go.
Light copies of heavy videos, at half the size, for smooth editing. The viewer shows the copy; export, the Tracker and the AI tools always use the original. 10-bit and log clips keep their depth, so grades look the same.
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Project panel ▸ right-click a video
Choose Create Proxy, for one clip or for all selected ones. It is made in the background while you keep working; the Type column shows how far it is. The project has to be saved once, so the proxy has a folder to go to.
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File ▸ Proxies
Create Proxies Now makes them for every video over 1080p in the project. Turn on Create Proxies for Heavy Clips on Import and new heavy clips get one by themselves.
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View ▸ Use Proxies
On by default. Turn it off to see the original in the viewer, for example to check fine detail. Export always uses the originals, whichever you choose.
In a Proxies folder next to your project file. File ▸ Proxies ▸ Show Proxies Folder opens it.
Turn it on for a heavy comp and every frame you see is kept, so it plays in real time with sound. The first pass renders each frame without skipping one; after that the range plays from the cache.
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Timeline toolbar
Look for this buttonOff by default: every frame is rendered live and nothing is kept. Click it and it turns blue; from then on the green bar under the work area shows the frames in memory, a blue bar those kept on disk. An edit only drops the frames it changes, and Undo brings the cached ones back. The app remembers your choice.
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Composition ▸ Preview
With caching on, Cache Frames When Idle (on by default) fills the cache from the playhead on whenever you stop for a moment, and pauses as soon as you click or type. Cache Before Playback makes Space cache the whole range first, then play it in real time.
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Edit ▸ Preferences ▸ Memory (Preview Cache)
The disk cache (on by default) also keeps frames that took a while to render on your SSD, so they are there again after a restart. Below it: its size, and how much RAM stays free for other apps (Automatic by default).
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Edit ▸ Purge
You never have to, but you can: All Memory (Ctrl+Alt+/), only the image cache, or the disk cache. Handy before you hand the computer to another heavy app.
Frames for playback in RAM. The disk cache in Hope Creative’s own data folder on your system drive, never in your project.
The viewer never has to draw more than you can see. Two settings decide how sharp it renders while you work; the export is always rendered in full.
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Viewer bar, next to the zoom
Look for this buttonAuto, the default, follows the zoom and your screen: the viewer renders only as many pixels as the display shows, so a zoomed-out comp looks the same with far fewer pixels to draw. The menu shows what Auto chose. Pick Full, Half, Third or Quarter to fix it yourself, for example Half for a very heavy comp where you only judge the timing.
No switch needed. These work in the background from the first start.
H.264, HEVC, VP9, AV1 and more decode on the graphics card, with software as the fallback. The processor stays free for the rest.
The interface, compositing, effects and both 3D renderers run on the GPU, and video frames are converted to color there too.
Upcoming frames are decoded in advance for every layer, and clips coming up next are opened early, so cuts play smoothly.
Compiled shaders are kept, so the app starts up sooner and effects don’t stutter the first time you use them.
H.264 and H.265 use the encoder of your graphics card when there is one; ProRes, DNxHR and PNG use every processor core.
Frames render on their own thread, so panels, menus and the timeline stay smooth while a heavy frame takes its time.
AI frame interpolation and Voice Isolation are saved when they are done, and not computed again when you open the project.
Every cache has a size limit, graphics memory nobody needs is given back, and only the visible timeline rows are drawn.
Hardware video decoding and encoding run on Windows today and follow on the Mac with the Mac release.