Press Caps Lock to prevent After Effects from updating Footage, Layer, or Composition panels. When you make a change that would otherwise appear in a panel, After Effects adds a red bar with a text reminder at the bottom of the panel. After Effects continues to update panel controls such as motion paths, anchor points, and mask outlines as you move them. To resume panel updates and display all changes, press Caps Lock again. http://help.adobe.com/en_US/aftereffects/cs/using/WSF13D6BED-C53B-408a-B2D6-C8B4205D4FB7a.html
Is there a way to get the same effect of the above without using Caps Lock? Maybe there is a way to enable a setting to render without updating Footage, Layer, or Composition panels without using the Caps Lock hot key?