Adobe After Effects

Hot fire software lol. Great for filmmakers and it comes apart of the adobe suite so its chill.

Its the gold standard for special effects industry

If you need a modelling program to go with it, I suggest using elements-3D, built by andrew kramer

http://www.videocopilot.net/

[Edited by Kagerjay, June 21]

Best for particle simulations, camera tracking and visual effects.

This is the best application for particle simulations, camera tracking and visual effects in general. After Effects has a huge support community with plenty of tutorials and plugins (many are free) to keep you busy during winter months.

My beef is with the Creative Cloud's monthly subscription based license. Adobe had the audacity to sent emails to their clients explaining that users must upgrade to the current version or risk being sued for copyright infringement. In addition, older hardware has being phased out forcing clients to purchase the latest Windows 10 PC.

I shall continue to use CS5 for as long as possible or until Adobe abolishes this subscription based nonsense. Until then I absolutely refuse to upgrade to the latest version.

After Effects is a really awesome software and I love to play around with it, it is not for the newbie as it can be hard to learn, although some of the other alternatives are even harder, But, the price is what scares most people away from buying AE and I think that 1 month trial is not nearly long enough for someone to learn and decide if they want to pay such a large amount.. I have just come across a new alternative "Video Motion Pro" for 2015, I know that it is no way superior to AE but is definitely cheaper and you can create Green Screen projects, logo's, outros, and so much more, it is really worth having a look at if the price of AE is out of your Reach.

I have seen a lot of what this can do, and it is amazing... I just wish that there was a Ubuntu (linux) version available.