Final cut and After Effects

There's a free After Effects script from Popcorn Island that makes moving FC files to AE very easy. From their website:

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The Popcorn Island Final Cut 2 After Effects Script is a simple way to move sequences in Final Cut into Compositions in After Effects. Not only does it allow you to work faster, it also saves storage space. The normal work flow of rendering out from Final Cut and opening in After Effects causes one to create temporary files to pass back and forth between the programs. The Final Cut 2 After Effects script will allow you to bypass that and simply use the footage that has already been imported into Final Cut.

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URL: http://www.popcornisland.com/category/after-effects/

There's also a video tutorial at the link.

 

I teach both apps at a local college. They go hand in hand like Photoshop and a Printer Maybe not the best example but basically, you can do some wonderful things with AE and FCP together. When I do teach FCP, I use examples as to how certain compositing tricks can be done without using an external Motion design software.