Questions about Flash Authoring Software and Storyline

Hi. This week was my first time using Storyline (I'm using the 30-Day trial). I tried to customize Storyline's built-in characters by adding additional graphics to their states. One character is a super-hero, so I added a cape and an emblem.

However, the character and the graphics looked off-kilter when I previewed them. I found out that the reason for the problem is that the illustrated characters are Flash objects and I was adding bitmap images on top of them, and that caused rendering issues.

Anyway, I still don't know if I will buy Storyline when the 30-day trial is over. It depends if I can find work as an instructional designer (I'm a beginner but I have one major lead for work).

However, I'm thinking that I might also want to buy some software that will let me create Flash drawings/objects. Obviously, there is Adobe Flash. But I'm wondering if there are any other programs that might be cheaper.

I'm a Mac user primarily — I've used Macs for 30 years and I've never run Windows until this month when I installed Windows on my Mac to run Storyline. I couldn't find any other programs, other than Flash itself, for Mac that would let me create Flash objects. So I'm wondering if anyone knows of any Windows programs that might do the trick.

I suppose I could always buy an older version of Flash (I know the current version is only available for lease by Adobe) for Mac on ebay. I actually owned Flash long ago and I remember the drawing tools were great, but I stopped upgrading as the program got increasingly complex, while my needs remained simple, and my old version would no longer run on my latest Mac.

I also have a few basic questions about Flash objects and Storyline: are Flash objects only for animations? Or is it possible to add a static Flash drawing? Can I add a Flash object to a character's state as I was trying to do?

Thanks!

D.