One other tip which took me a while to discover - if you
are selecting a large number of items, holding shift may or
may not work, especially if the items cover more than two
tracks and are arranged so that you have to skip back and
forth between tracks to select them.

In this case, hold down control instead of shift, and you
may select individual items no matter how remote their
relative location on the timeline or what track they appear
in.

Of course, after selecting, go ahead and use the group
command to lock them into place.

I have had several "accidents" where, even after grouping
several elements in a complex project, I accidently deleted
all my good stuff, and then saved the project (even saved
over my backup file . . . duh) before noticing my error.

I won't take this chance anymore. Instead, if I have
something that really took me a while to get just right, I
will go ahead and render it. The rendered avi contains
everything, in one neat package, and can then be placed on
the timeline instead of the unrendered elements.

Some may be concerned with loss of quality, but, I've found
that output to DV quality loss (if any) is minimal.

Hope this helps.

Caruso

------------- snip ----------------------
I won't take this chance anymore. Instead, if I have
something that really took me a while to get just right, I
will go ahead and render it. The rendered avi contains
everything, in one neat package, and can then be placed on
the timeline instead of the unrendered elements.

Some may be concerned with loss of quality, but, I've found
that output to DV quality loss (if any) is minimal.
------------- snip ----------------------

Why not save incremental project files instead of making
lossy renders? Project files are tiny (disk space wise)
and using this method you can always go back to previous
versions of your project. When you get something just
right, just save your project as project2.veg, and the
project3.veg etc...

This is common place in the 3dsMAX world and works just as
well for video.

"Some may be concerned with loss of quality, but, I've
found that...DV quality loss (if any) is minimal"

Factoid: Zero quality loss for straight cut avi DV footage
rendered to DV.

"Factoid: Zero quality loss . . ."

Maybe that's why the "slight quality loss" that some might
worry about did not bother me, LOL.

The previous suggestion about saving mini-segments also
works, but, I've managed to be clumsy enough to mess up
projects in that way as well.

Renderning those special bits and pieces works best for
me. Then, again, the reason for the term PC is because
there are generally so many routes to a successful end, so,
use whatever works best and feels comfortable for you.

Thanks, SonicEPM, for stating what I always suspected about
rendering.

Now, if you could clarify further:

What I take from your statement is that I can render a
segment, incorporate the avi into a project, render it
again, and not lose quality, right?

So, under what circumstances will multiple renderings cause
loss?

Thanks.

Caruso

"I can render a segment, incorporate the avi into a
project, render it again, and not lose quality, right?"

Yes, as long as the segment is

1) DV (or other non-temporally compressed format),

2)rendered using the exact same settings that created it,
and

3)is untouched in any way (no new title over top, no
resizing, no changes).

If the segment is untouched native DV, DV rendering for
that segment is a passthrough- an exact digital copy with
no loss.

------------------------SNIP--------------------------
If the segment is untouched native DV, DV rendering for
that segment is a passthrough- an exact digital copy with
no loss.
---------------------------------------------------------
I'm not trying to nag you, but I'm still having trouble
knowing if by "untouched native DV," you also mean a
rendered avi that wasn't touched any more after the render.
Suppose:
1)I insert freshly captured raw untouched DV avi files into
the timeline, & add titles & transitions.
2)I render using same DV settings and size as raw footage
to create PROJECT1.AVI
3)I then insert rendered PROJECT1.AVI as an event into
another timeline which contains various other DV material,
but I do not overlap my PROJECT1.AVI event with anything
already in the timeline, nor change it in any way.
5) I render new timeline to PROJECT2.AVI
Does the PROJECT1.AVI event experience any additional
processing when PROJECT2.AVI is rendered, or is it just
passed though as is?
Thanks.

clean pass through, no recompression.