What It Does
RenderHogs keeps heavy compositions responsive by letting you tag resource-intensive layers and effects as “hogs,” then disable them with one click while you work. You can also set up lightweight substitute layers that appear in their place, or use expressions to reduce property values (like dropping particle counts from 100,000 to 20,000) without touching your original keyframes.
When you’re ready to render, the plugin re-enables everything automatically. Works across your entire project, not just the active comp.
Key Features
Tagging system. Mark specific layers or effects as hogs (resource-heavy) or substitutes (lightweight stand-ins). Context-sensitive buttons adjust based on what’s selected.
Project-wide toggling. Enable or disable all tagged items throughout your project with a single button. Substitutes behave inversely, appearing when hogs are off.
Value Reduction. Generates expressions that scale property values down by a percentage when hogs are disabled. Useful for things like particle emitters or blur radius, where you want some visual representation without the full processing cost. Works with keyframes without altering the original values.
Value Substitution. Swaps property values based on hog state. Set Radial Blur antialiasing to “High” when enabled, “Low” when disabled. More precise than percentage reduction for properties with discrete options.
Render safeguards. Toggle & Render command enables all hogs and starts rendering in one step. Optional visual indicator layer alerts you if hogs are still disabled in a comp. Integrates with QueueMaster for automated render queue management.
Customization options. Define tag characters, choose scope (entire project, selected comps, or current comp only), decide whether to affect precomps and locked layers, and control whether tags appear in layer names.
Who It’s For
Motion designers working with particle systems, heavy blur effects, complex 3D layers, or high-resolution footage that slows down preview. Anyone juggling multiple effects that aren’t needed during rough editing but must be present for final output.
Pricing
Single user license costs $14.99. Includes a 15-day fully functional trial. Created by David Jacobson.
Known issue: A macOS-specific After Effects bug can break expressions when adding or removing tags from layers referenced by other expressions. Adobe has been notified.