Developed from the Alembic open-source file format, GPU cache files are optimized for fast playback performance in Maya. These performance gains come from the way GPU cache files are evaluated. The GPU cache node routes cached data directly to the system graphics card for processing, bypassing Maya dependency graph evaluation. This data flow alleviates performance issues that arise while opening and playing back large scenes with heavy data sets.
When you import a GPU cache file, it appears in the Outliner as a single gpuCache node and is represented by this icon:
. In the scene, GPU-cached geometry displays as dotted wireframe objects. The Attribute Editor displays an object-named Transform node that consolidates all of the individual source object Transform nodes. An object-named Shape node provides additional attributes, such as Cache File Name, Geometry Path and a cache reload button. When changes are made to the GPU cache file after it is first imported into the scene, you can
click the 
icon to reload the updated cache file. You do not need to re-import the file using the GPU Cache > Import command
GPU cached objects cannot be edited as Maya geometry.
To save and load Maya objects and scenes as GPU cache files, load the gpuCache.mll. To load the plug-ins, open the Plug-in Manager ( Windows > Settings/Preferences > Plug-in Manager). See Load or unload Maya plug-ins.
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