advice would be nice
 

Well, who'd a thunk it.
A year later and I'm getting the hang of this.
So much so that I am curios about aftermarket effects software.
Who likes what and why.
My needs are to be able to stop going the production house every time I need some animation built, or just whant a groovy effect.
Thanks

Gary,
Answers really depend on what type of "groovy effects" you anticipate needing. What do you normally need?

see, thats just it. this will be mostly for my growth as an editor.
some minimal animation creation, the rest for fun.

In that case, you cannot go wrong with Adobe's AfterEffects. An outstanding Swiss Army knife for a broad variety of effects and corrections.

Ken has you on a good track, as not only is AFX good for compositing and built-in effects, but there are a wealth of aftermarket plugins you can purchase for aftereffects to suit your needs.. from "film look" color correction, to 3d rendering of sand/water/whatever..

Check out BORIS "Red" and "Boris Continuum Complete" too. Continuum complete can be installed as extra filters into FCP so you'll have more "groovy effects" and no need to learn another program. Or do a search for FCP plugins, filters effects at www.versiontracker.com

many thanks all.