FCP X Laptop to iMac transfer question? Event and Clips?

[SGM]

Any help on this is appreciated. I've edited and put together a three minute edit of maybe 30 clips or so from 2 SD cards for my feature. I have started editing on my laptop and want to transfer the edits, clips and event (and especially the color grading that I did in FCP X) to my iMac.

My question is, will all the footage stay in tact or do I need to upload all the clips? And if I do have to re-upload the clips, do I need to then re-do the color correction? (basically all I did was pull down the exposure in the blacks and do a few filters here and there, some vignetting, some grain, etc).

Also, it's part of my feature and I'm going to be transferring the event, etc onto my iMac. How much TB would an iMac be able to handle (got it in 2013, it's the desktop monitor with built in memory - 16 gig RAM, no tower type).

I'm also looking into buying a quality external or desktop drive that's reliable that is cost effective but works very well. I'd need to drives, maybe three. One being the main, one being a backup and the other being a backup backup which I'll keep locked away.

 

[ddixon]

Wow, a lot of questions here...
It's recommended to move Projects and Events from within FCPX, not in the Finder. Select an Event in the Event Library, and in the File Menu there will be a Move Event command.
Or, if you want to move a Project AND its "referenced" Events, then select a Project in the Project Library list and there will be a Move Project command. When you select that it will give you the choice of just moving the Project, or moving the Project plus any Events that have footage used in that Project. Note that the word here is Move, not Copy. Off the top of my head, I think it moves the material but does not leave a copy on the source drive.

When you add filters, or really anything at all that requires rendering, that creates render files. Those are kept in the Project folder - in fact, if you look in the Project folder you can see them. Those are considered part of the Project and are also moved by the Move Project... command. So, you keep the original media AND the edited versions.

Space needed? Totally depends on the length and number of clips, whether they are the original media or transcoded to ProRes, 60p or lower, etc. And newer versions of FCPX will not convert some media to ProRes if it's already considered a format suitable for editing, like the clips from my Canon XF100.

Backup is complicated, especially if you are on a limited budget. It's generally recommended that you will get speedier performance if you don't use your boot drive for your media, but it can be done if necessary. And external drives need a fast connection - Firewire 800 is considered a minimum. But for simple backups, you don't have to have something that fast. And the problem is the huge file sizes generated, especially if you need to keep certain projects for a while. You can now get external 3 or 4 Terabyte drives for <$150.

Hope this helps

 

[SGM]

Wow, a lot of questions here...
It's recommended to move Projects and Events from within FCPX, not in the Finder. Select an Event in the Event Library, and in the File Menu there will be a Move Event command.
Or, if you want to move a Project AND its "referenced" Events, then select a Project in the Project Library list and there will be a Move Project command. When you select that it will give you the choice of just moving the Project, or moving the Project plus any Events that have footage used in that Project. Note that the word here is Move, not Copy. Off the top of my head, I think it moves the material but does not leave a copy on the source drive.

When you add filters, or really anything at all that requires rendering, that creates render files. Those are kept in the Project folder - in fact, if you look in the Project folder you can see them. Those are considered part of the Project and are also moved by the Move Project... command. So, you keep the original media AND the edited versions.

Space needed? Totally depends on the length and number of clips, whether they are the original media or transcoded to ProRes, 60p or lower, etc. And newer versions of FCPX will not convert some media to ProRes if it's already considered a format suitable for editing, like the clips from my Canon XF100.

Backup is complicated, especially if you are on a limited budget. It's generally recommended that you will get speedier performance if you don't use your boot drive for your media, but it can be done if necessary. And external drives need a fast connection - Firewire 800 is considered a minimum. But for simple backups, you don't have to have something that fast. And the problem is the huge file sizes generated, especially if you need to keep certain projects for a while. You can now get external 3 or 4 Terabyte drives for <$150.

Hope this helps

So, let's say i have Final Cut Pro X without any clips or media on my iMac, but for my laptop, I do, and I want to place the event onto the iMac... What do you suggest I do?