[Robin S. kurz]

RED = https://www.red.com (camera company with their own proprietary and still extremely *CPU* intensive codec)

RAID = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID

😉

[Robin S. kurz]

Actually, simply looking at the clip in the event will tell you. If it has a little camera icon in the bottom left corner… it’s not been fully imported and is still referencing the footage directly on the camera/card.

And that line used to be orange. 😉

[Robin S. kurz]

I believe that some (very few) of the basic ones are in fact still left over Quartz composer transitions (for the sake of compatibility to old 7 projects?). So no, they’re not editable in Motion. And no, there is unfortunately no “favoriting” of preset filters and transitions… yet. But if you need a certain length, then you can set that default length in the prefs and make it the standard transition by right-clicking it in the browser. Otherwise you’re left with copy/paste.

[Robin S. kurz]

[Rick Lang] “At times, such as when you render output”

Then again FCP X uses the GPU predominantly (if not exclusively) for output, so even then it wouldn’t make much, if any, difference. Even a version of RED that doesn’t use the CPU but rather the GPU for encoding/decoding is coming out. Finally.

[Robin S. kurz]

[Jenn Lindsay] “can you recommend how/where I can get this 2×8 RAM when the time comes? “

Seeing that I’m in Germany, I’m probably not the best person to ask. 😉 But I’m sure others here can make recommendations. But from what I gather, OWC ( https://www.macsales.com ) is a good place to look if in the U.S..

[Robin S. kurz]

[Jenn Lindsay] “you recommend that I:
* upgrade the graphics to NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M 4GB GDDR5 (only $150, which is doable in the scheme of things)
* leave the storage to the in-built 1TB Serial ATA Drive @ 7200 rpm and then work with external drives.
* Figure out the RAM upgrade to 2x8GB or 4x8GB on my own in a cheaper place. “

That sums it up perfectly, yes. 🙂 But I’d say that 24GB of RAM will do you just fine for a good while. You can always exchange the 2×4 with 2×8 later if you need.

[Jenn Lindsay] “I want also to ask you your opinion on the processor. “

Well, that’s a tough one. The vast majority of operations pertaining to apps such as Final Cut Pro 10 and Motion are done on the GPU not CPU, which is why I personally put it at the end of the list in terms of relevance to overall performance. If you work a lot in the 3D realm on the other hand, then CPU is king. So in the end it’s more of a question of what you see your primary applications being and, again, budget. To put it into purely technical terms look here: https://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i7-3770K-vs-Intel-Core-i5-3570K and you’ll see the difference is (mostly) relatively small, therefore a question if that additional speed is relevant and worth the extra money to you. I’d personally invest the money elsewhere, especially since it doesn’t seem that it’s your bread and butter (at the moment), so probably more in the area of “luxury” than actual need. But that’s for you (and your wallet) to decide. 😉

Any money you spend on a GPU and/or RAM upgrade will get you exponentially further in comparison.

Cheers,
Robin

[Robin S. kurz]

[Jenn Lindsay] “which of the two options (between 3.2 and 3.4GHz) makes the most sense? “

Well, if you want the best possible machine for FCP et al, then you’re “stuck” with getting the 3.4, since the 3.2 only offers the 1GB GPU. The 3.4 has 2GB with an optional 4GB upgrade. So depending on your budget, I would go for either the stock 3.4 and at the most upgrade to the 4GB. Never mind the Fusion Drive. When working with video, you shouldn’t be editing off of your internal disk either way. I’d save that money and get a decent external USB 3 drive and simply stick with the standard internal disk.

[Jenn Lindsay] “It makes me nervous to think of adding RAM to the 27″ myself, but is it really truly easy?”

Yes. On the the 27″ it’s super easy, it’s just a push of a button: https://support.apple.com/kb/HT5540?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
It’s the 21″ that is a huge pain since you literally have to take it apart.

I would just keep in mind that the only thing between GPU, CPU, disk and RAM that you can upgrade later on an iMac is RAM and disk (though disk is something for an Apple technician to do). So getting the 4GB GPU would be much more future-proof. BUT, the 2GB will still be great, should the extra money be an issue. Disk and RAM can be upgraded as needed at any time and CPU is the most irrelevant of them all in the context of working in FCP (and Motion). It comes with 2x4GB RAM, I would simply get an additional 2x8GB upgrade elsewhere where it’s cheaper… which isn’t hard to find with Apple’s RAM prices. 😉

[Robin S. kurz]

If it’s the MBP with 512MB Nvidia GT 650M, then most likely, yes. But it would still be a quantum leap compared to what you have now.

I personally would never want to have to work on any Mac with FCP and less than 1GB of VRAM (on a dedicated GPU).

[Robin S. kurz]

[Joey Gallimore] “I know for a fact these were created using FCP”

There’s is absolutely ZERO chance they were created in FCP actually. The first two will most likely have been done with After Effects Puppet Tool. A mesh warp filter that neither FCP nor Motion can deliver. Nor do I know of a 3rd party plugin that would even vaguely give them that functionality.

The third one would be comparatively simple in either FCP or Motion. Whereby it would be silly to want to do that amount and kind of animation in an NLE, whether it’s theoretically possible or not.

[Robin S. kurz]

[Bret Williams] “(get AT LEAST 16gigs if not 32)”

They don’t have a 32GB option. Unless you go with a 27″ that is, in which case I’d skip the extra RAM and put that money into the GPU. You can always upgrade the RAM should you actually need it later.