I want to return to the Mac world
 

I've really had it with all the bugs that I've been experiencing in my PCs.
I'm taking a class right now in video production and there are a few things that bug me about final cut pro.
in Vegas I can NOT output my project and render it with out destroying everything on the timeline. To my knowledge if you render a project in final cut pro to say a QuickTime movie, then you have essentially eliminated all of your audio and video clips that were in the browser and everything that you have done on the time line. Am I correct about this or is there another way of saving what you have done in final cut pro, much like you would in Vegas with a veg file?
another thing that bothers me about final cut pro is that even if you open your project from your own folder, if you do not go back in and reset the dustbins then any work you do that day could end up in an unknown destination on the computer. This is a real problem in a classroom where different students can get on the same machine. Is there a setting that can overcome this?
Edit/Delete Message

No, you're wrong. Take a look at "Nesting". Also, try exporting to QT as a reference movie.

I'm not sure about your folder/networking issue as all my machines are single user, someone else will have to field that one for you.

I don't really understand what you mean...
If you export to quicktime movie, you still have your timeline with everything in it... ?

Rendering a project doesn't eliminate anything in the browser. Saving your project is the same as saving a veg file. Also, go look in Tools -> Render Manager, and you'll find all the render files you've created. You can selectively remove the ones you no longer need.

You are correct about the capture and scratch folders being global in that all projects will use the same folders you set in preferences. Those who have used FCP for awhile and in multi-user environments have learned to reset the capture and scratch folders to the desired location for each project.

I know of one person who has written an Applescript to allow multiple users to switch out the FCP preference files to their particular settings before opening FCP. This is someone who regularly uses AVID and misses the multi user environment it provides.

-gb-

Added the word NOT and now it makes more since. Always proofread when using speech recognition. Thanks for your replies. BTW I don't know if I explained this well enough, but the dust bins can change even if I open the same project, if someone had come into the lab earlier and opened their project before me. I will try nesting for that and the reference movie for the other problem.

I have no idea from where you drew that conclusion, but it is false. All editing in FCP (as in, AFAIK, all NLEs) is non-destructive. The only way for your media to get blown away is by hard-drive failure or, more likely, user error.

I am not sure I understand the problem you are experiencing. There is nothing mysterious about the location of your work media files or your project files. Perhaps you could clarify what is going on, because the way I am reading it sounds like nothing more than user-error.

FCP saves project files like any other NLE and if you're specifying all of your capture scratch, audio render, video render and auto save files to be written in one project folder, then you won't have to worry about reconnecting media if you move the project folder.