There seems to be more and more talk floating around the web about ‘regular editors’ using high end finishing tools like Smoke, Nuke or Scratch (which also does a whole load of production things) to complete their projects. To dip your toe in the water here are some links to several series of comprehensive Smoke, Nuke and Scratch tutorials.
Free tutorials for Smoke, Nuke and Scratch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=F9XqRKbCgWo
