What should you do to preview your animation effectively in After Effects?

Utilizing the RAM Preview feature is essential for effectively previewing animations in After Effects because it allows you to see the animation play back in real-time with all effects, transitions, and playback settings fully rendered. This feature dynamically uses your system's RAM to cache frames, which results in a smoother and more accurate representation of your final output as it would appear during playback.

By previewing your animation using RAM Preview, you can assess not only timing and movement but also the integration of layers and effects without the need for a full render, which can be time-consuming. This capability is particularly valuable during the editing and refining stages of your project, as it enables you to identify and make adjustments quickly.

The other options, while they may have their uses in certain contexts, do not provide the same level of immediate and comprehensive playback feedback that RAM Preview does. For instance, rendering the composition generates a full output file but does not facilitate quick adjustments or iterative improvement. Checking the Timeline View is helpful for making edits but doesn't provide a visual playback of the animation, and creating a new layer generally pertains to building content rather than previewing existing animations.