Zeth Willie takes a look at geometry caching (or Geo Cache) in Maya which essentially bakes animation information right into the object’s geometry which is often an overlooked step before rendering. By using Geometry Caching, you are able to render from a file version that has no rigging in in it, which in the long run, renders faster, as its no longer calculating the deformations on every frame. Really great on normal scenes, but ESSENTIAL on scenes that may have hundreds of characters running around.
Check out the post for Creating a Geo Cache in Maya for Easier Animation here.
Zeth Willie writes: Geometry caching is technique for baking animation into your geometry to make your scene simpler and much lighter. Probably not for everyday use, but can come in handy when you need it. . .
This vid is an overview of why you might use geometry caching and then a quick example of how I used it recently.
