What you need for this book

Honestly, you don't need much to get started with this cookbook. Hopefully, you've got some video files to work with; otherwise, why would you have purchased a video editing program in the first place? If you haven't imported any of your video from your camera yet, don't worry; the book covers that as well! It also wouldn't hurt to have a few photos and songs lying around your computer.

If you want to learn the basics of FCPX's companion programs, Motion and Compressor (which was covered in this book's Appendix), you can purchase both from the Mac App Store for $49.99 each.