Hi, I just started using adobe flash pro and I want to learn some basics of animating before deciding if I want to buy. I was lazy and the trial period is almost over so I don't have much time to go through manuals etc - my bad

So a couple of questions:

1. Is there a way to make the bone "graphics" smaller/thinner? It's hard to place and move bones when the bones are thicker than my stickmen.

2. Is there a way to make my stickman's body distort less when I move the bones? Like a way to allocate the control area of a bone more specifically or disconnect two bones from effecting each other? (I'm coming out of a background of 3d armatures, so if I'm way off, patience please)

3. How do you edit bones after it's been placed? I suspect it's got something to do with the bone bind tool... if so skip to the next Q.

4. What are and how do you use some basic functions of the bone bind tool?

5. While moving around bones with the select tool, sometimes the bones "disconnect" from the body. The bones move and while selected shows the blue outline of the object bound to but the actual object doesn't get affected. Any ideas why?

6. Is there a way to change the brush size? For now I'm zooming in and out to change the size of the brush on the scene since the size then changes relative to scene size.

7. Anything interesting I should know about Flash which could influence my decision of buying it or not?

8. Would you recommend flash or another program for basic animations?

If you can answer any (or all ;D)of these questions, I'd appreciate it.
Thanks
9. When to parts of my stickmen overlap eg. if their arms are crossed, the overlapping parts are highlighted/"color negative". Can that be prevented?