Baking effects refers to rendering or permanently embedding visual effects, color grades, animations, or audio effects into a video clip. Once baked, the effects can’t be adjusted without redoing the process.
Baking reduces processing load during playback or export and locks in your creative choices. It ensures playback is smooth, files are portable, and effects appear consistently across editing systems. It's often used when finalizing edits, preparing for handoff across tools or collaborators, or delivering final masters.
Bake effects when you're confident in the final look and want to prevent accidental changes. It’s also useful for real-time playback or exporting effects-heavy sequences more efficiently.
Note - Use with caution. Always keep an unbaked version in case you need to revise.
Bake only when finalized – Lock creative decisions before baking since baked effects are harder to modify later.
Save iterations – Keep unbaked versions for flexibility in case revisions are required.
Optimize for performance – Bake heavy simulations (particles, physics, lighting) to reduce render times and system load.