We are always on the lookout for sites that offer FREE good visual aids — clip art, templates, animations, etc. — anything to help you give your multimedia presentations a unique flair. While there are many interesting sites out there, the vast majority aren't really too helpful. It seems as though they fall into two categories: the first type of "free" site is full of great downloads, but once you look closely, you find the best stuff is hidden behind a layer of fee-based usage. The other type of site is, well, what the Internet used to be — people sharing their works of art. These personal sites are often interesting, but they rarely contain images professional enough for business use. So, we are always pleased when we find a site that promises just what it delivers. One such site is Tripod — by the Animation Factory.

This web site provides over 30,000 original animations and web designs for use in multimedia presentations, web pages, and other media. Yes, it's true — 30,000 original animations — though many of them are variations of each other.

All images are 3D rendered and completely original. The animations come in a variety of background colors and sizes. In fact, many of the animations are set on white or black backgrounds — offering you great flexibility in use. The site contains many categories of animations, including Animals, Business, Computer, Holiday Events, Machines, Nature, Objects, Sports, and more. The animations are free for personal use — but not for redistribution. This means you can use the animations in a presentation, but you cannot include them in a CD to be distributed.

These are sample animations from the site. Most of the images are fun or whimsical, but there are also several categories of animations that would be appropriate for more conservative presentations. The Business group, for example, contains quite traditional images with subtle animations.

Animals	Business	Computer	Sports

Working with the Downloaded Images

The site couldn't be any easier to use. If you want to download an image, just do the following:

• PC
  Right-click on the image to download and choose "Save Image As".



• Mac
  Click and hold on the image to download and choose "Save Image As".

This site is not entirely benevolent: it does contain a premium, fee-based section as well. The Premium Gold Site is for "members" only, and it contains nearly 3x the amount of animations as the free portion of the site. However, the styles of the premium animations are similar to the free ones.

Using the Premium Gold Site is quite easy. You pay $39.95 for an annual membership. This membership allows you to download as many images as you like and to use the images without paying any other feed or royalty charges.

While most people would not need to join the premium section of the site, it may be useful if you really do create many presentations over the course of the year. Regardless, the site is definitely worth a bookmark — go to animationfactory.tripod.com!