Hi,
Is Toon Boom Animate 2 right for me?
I have some very limited but specific needs from Toon Boom. I’m going to create a series of animations that are made of almost still images, like animatics except for Ken Burns camera movements. I’m using Toon Boom (rather than just iMovie) because I want to use multiplaned layers to get a two-and-a-half-D effect.
However, since examining the features, I wonder what other functions might be useful to me. I’m aiming for an oil-painting-on-canvas, non-cartoony style using images created in Corel Painter 11.
MY QUESTION:
are all the rigging/vector distorting tools only applicable to objects drawn in Toon Boom, using Toon Boom’s brushes etc?
Thank you, helpful community 
So every image is basically a still image (no rigging of characters etc)? All pre done?
Then you just want to use the z depth and camera movements?
I definitely want to use Animate 2 for it’s multiplanes and Z depth but I don’t want to use it’s drawing tools to create the images. I want to create the images externally. However, if I’m able to do rigging, I would consider rigging up characters for subtle movements.
You see, I don’t want it to look like a cartoon, I want it to look like a photo-realistic oil painting. If given a choice between full motion that looks cartoony and minimal motion that looks life-like, I’d have to go for realism.
Right now, I’m exploring the options. I just downloaded the Animate 2 Personal Learning Edition but obviously can’t do a thing with it without going through the tutorials.
the pro version has more advanced drawing tools but it still would be as good a photoshop type program.
You can import bitmaps in and rig them them together as a character. I think there is in an example of this in the pro kickstart tutorials (although a lot of it could be applied in the standard edition.
When you import an image into the software, you can use this image to rig as well as a vector image. You also have the ability to vectorise an image as colour when you import.
If you do not vectorise an image on import, then you will not be able to use the drawing tools on that layer, however you will still be able to use the animation tools (transform, etc). You will not be able to erase parts of it unless you vectorise it.
Once you vectorise it, then you can use all the tools on it. The only one that won’t work the way you would think it would is Perspective, because with a converted bitmap image, it applies that image as a texture, and when you use the perspective tool it simply exposes more area of the texture instead of strething it. However there’s a way around this - if you use the Quadmap tool, then you will be able to get the same effect as you would with the perspective tool, and you can also animate this effect over time.
I hope that covers some of your questions and good luck! Definitely play around with the PLE version and verify that it suits your needs.
~Lilly
Toon Boom Support