I think the modern solution is the little check box that says "Don't ask me again".

Rob Mack

Maybe when apps are initially installed they could have an Options menu that lets the installer select how idiot-proof they want the app to operate. ;)

I would like Sony Vegas to assume I am an idiot:
- Never
- Only when it's important
- Often
- What does "assume" mean?

Just make it so only the admin can cancel a render.

Argh! Yes, "Enter your administrative password to cancel this render".

Perfect!

Rob

lock the keyboard. go to logon screen screensaver.

amazing how fast kids make you "evolve" in anti-accidental cancel rendering solutions.

It's not as trivial an issue as us old timers might like to think.
Depending on what you're rendering Vegas can sit there for quite a time saying "100% Complete" when it hasn't. Hit Cancel at that point and goodbye entire render.

Bob.

Yes, I think the 'Don't ask me again' check box would be appropriate. That way those that never mnake a mistake can keep from being bothered. Actually neither a child (unless you count me at 64) did it nor did I do it accidentally, sort of. I came into the room, looked at the screen and the bar was all the way over to the right, so I clicked the righthand box. Supposedly it was close but it was cancel as I quickly realized it was only 99% rendered. There went 3 hours of waiting A warning would have saved me a lot of time. I rarely check those 'don't ask me again' boxes as I find that one mistake can cost you more time than hundreds of times having to close that additional box to be sure.

Hey Terry, Sony has a product suggestion box which will probably get better response than posting here. Was a time when the developers interacted here frequently but not anymore. So just to be sure they see it:

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/support/productsuggestion.asp

How about if the "cancel" button had a red background and the "close" button had a green background?

Hey, I have a PVR and on the disc menu the only box available is the "format".
Press that and the whole disc with all the hours of recording gone in a second. They should ask "are you sure you want to wipe the disc?"
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mel.

What i do is always have the "close this dialog box when rendering finishes" checked. That way, as long as the progress dialog box is on the screen, the rendering is still going on and i leave it alone. When the box is gone, the render is done.

Rique: Good idea. I have posted my comment to the suggestion box. Not sure hgow much it gets looked at though.

Chienworks : Good idea too. I am going to do that. Then all I have to do is remember what I was doing when I left the room.:>)

How about, the render stops when you push 'cancel' and then it asks you if you want to erase it or finish it later?
WHY HAVEN'T THEY FIGURED THAT ONE OUT YET?

some codec's need the file to finish before you can play. perhaps an option to finalize the file?

What would be better is if a render could be interupted/paused and resumed.

TheHappyFriar, excellent point! option to finalized at the cancellation point- would be a great time saver.

I second MH_Stevens' "render-pause" option. Also being able to save a partial render would be nice. I've had to cancel a few renders because of lightning storms.

Boy do I wish Vegas had a "render pause". That would be one of the single most important improvements Vegas could make.

I hit cancel when the dialog box was showing 100% complete. So, I guess you are telling me I should check to see if the rendered file includes those final frames. Otherwise, my experience is not consistent with yours, Farss. When I hit cancel at that 100% hang-up, my rendered file is very much still there.

I may be wrong, but, I'm thinking that you could hit cancel at any point during the process and anything that had already been rendered to the file name designated would be there.

I am in the middle of a long render now, so I can't check it, but will do so sometime today.

As for protecting ourselves against ourselves, I do get a little tired of having to confirm everything in Windows. Especially some of the more innocuous chores. My browser, Firefox, for instance, will ask if I really want to close all tabs if I click to terminate the program (works this way in Linux, also). Now, if you close all the tabs by mistake when you only meant to close one, you experience a minor inconvenience, but you haven't really lost anything but a little time. If I click to terminate Firefox, I want to terminate Firefox, period.

As for Vegas renders, I would hate to lose an hour or six hours or whatever by mistake. OTOH, generally, if I'm rendering, I am quite careful not to go near that cancel button with my mouse pointer. If you make that mistake once or twice, I think experience should keep you from making it too many more times.

If this issue is becoming an annoyance for you, then, I want some of what you are consuming during your Vegas sessions. You know Vegas will cancel the process when you touch that button, so just stay away from it.

OTOH, it wouldn't hurt to have a dialog that could be switched off, also.

This request has come up in reference to several of the Vegas versions. Given my choice of petty annoyances, I would sooner live with a bit of redundancy to insure that I don't accidentally kill a render than some of the other "are you sure" dialogs that pop up in situations where mistaken confirmation is far less costly to the user.

Del

I have never experienced having some useful partial result from a cancelled render. I always end up with a file that is corrupted, even when rendering to .avi.

Why cancel a render that says 100%? If the cancel button is still displayed, it's still rendering. If it was really done rendering then there wouldn't be a cancel button anymore.

When Vegas says the render is 100% complete the hard drive is still honkin and a shaken. I kind of wait until the noise stops then cross the bridge.
JJK

And, once again, if you have the box checked to close the progress dialog when rendering is finished, this isn't an issue. When that dialog disappears the render is done; if the dialog is still there, it's still rendering. Kinda clears up the confusion completely.