[Max Palmer]

Dan- first off, love your site. I’ve used the examples several times, and it was actually my first go-to place when trying to figure this particular problem out. Thanks!

Here is a screenshot of my wave setup. I made a small expression with a wiggle, part of which is pickwhipped to a null with some keyframes on it. The reason I did this is so that I could increase the waves later in the animation (a storm will happen).

[Max Palmer]

Unfortunately, it’s not. The animation is seeded so that it has a natural random feeling.

[Max Palmer]

Gotcha- I simply have no experience with raid setups, so this is allll new to me.

So two drives in Raid 0 will mirror eachother (and show up as two drives in the finder?)

Two drives in Raid 1 would simply be recognized as one larger drive, correct?

Curious- what is the purpose of Raid 5?

Thanks!

[Max Palmer]

Thank you all for the suggestions.

Would it be smartest to set time machine to backup incrementally from the mirrored drive, in order to preserve working performance on the working drive?

[Max Palmer]

To clarify- for instance I know that a lot of people use expensive drives such as the WD Velociraptor. I’m not sure I need a drive like that, but if it offers any sort of bump in speed over what I have now, which is essentially just an extern FW800 enclosure (not sure of internals) then I’d consider it.

I try to work with projects that are 720p, and no higher. Mostly it’s motion graphics that involve a lot of vector. Every now and then I will throw in some stock footage that may be 1080p, but these are usually moderate to low bit rates like 25mbps.

[Max Palmer]

Budget is flexible (i.e. don’t really have one). Does that drive you mentioned above offer above-average speed, or is it comparable to a “typical speed” drive?

[Max Palmer]

That’s exactly what I’d like to do. Do you recommend any internal drives that are good for performance, and this type of setup?

[Max Palmer]

I’ll check that out, thanks Walter!

[Max Palmer]

Well, I’m completely self taught via video tutorials, and have done so at my current position at work for over a year now. The problem is, I’m virtually the only one here with skills in this type of thing, so I have no mentors or superiors to teach me anything or to bounce questions off of, etc.

I guess I’m looking for a tradeshow where I could see what software and equipment other people are using, see techniques, go to workshops. Kind of like PhotoExpo in NY, which I go to every year. Completely free, unless you want to do the extras. It seems a lot of these interactive conventions are hundreds or even thousands of dollars, to even walk in the door.

If not, then I guess my next step is to start going to a local group, like Walter suggested.

[Max Palmer]

I’m in Connecticut, which is part of the only tri-state area I know of. 😉

Thanks for pointing out the NY meetup, although it might be difficult for me to get down there in time. Are there any sort of trade shows in this area centered around motion graphics?

I’ll try to make it to some sort of gathering or user group at some point.