drawing characters

hi, i’m new to toon boom. I would like to know two things if anyone knows the answers then i would appreciate it.

1. When drawing an image, the pencil isn’t visible until the mouse button is unclicked. It means that i cant see the lines i am drawing until i have drawn and unclicked. It so frustrating and im wondering if this is a common problem and if there is a setting wrong?

2. Can i import jpegs and use them to create a cut character or is that not possible? If it is possible, does anyone know where a tutorial hides?

Thanks in advance,

Pete

1.)
http://www.toonboom.com/support/forums/animate/index.php?board=16;action=display;threadid=2687

http://www.toonboom.com/support/forums/animate/index.php?board=16;action=display;threadid=2641

2.)
JPG-images have no alpha channel (transparent background)
Use PSD, PNG, TGA…etc. (those formats provide alpha channels)
Otherwise, import and vectorize, then delete (erase) the background…

If you like, here is a tutorial by “JK” using Toon Boom Studio,
the same principal applies to Animate:
http://animationcraft.blogspot.com/2007/09/introduction-to-photo-cut-out-animation.html

Here are the Animate tutorials:
http://www.toonboom.com/products/animate/how-to/video-tutorials/

Regards
Nolan