Select a category from the menu on the left side of the catalog page to browse the catalog of animations by category. Most animations are 512 by 384 pixel avi files and are generally several megabytes long. Small screen shots are provided, and the user may view the animation in three ways: direct link to the media file, and two versions of a link to a page with the animation embeded in a web page with a brief comment on the animation. There are two methods used to embed the animation because not all work equally well with any one method. We recommend using the Firefox browser with quicktime. Right-click on the media file link to download and save an animation to your own computer.

To view an animation click on one of   |  QT Embedded  |   Media  |   Old Embedded  |
The animations can be used as supplemental materials in a number of ways.  I generally play them during lecture as a lead in to discussion of a particular topic.  The notes I provide for students contain links to animations that have been incorporated in lecture.  

The animations are easily embedded into powerpoint lectures: save the animation file in the same folder as the powerpoint file, and use insert: movie: movie from file from the menu.  Make sure you take all the contents of the folder with you to your presentation's destination.

The animations are distributed under a Creative Commons by-nc 3.0 license.  This means you are free to use, redistribute (on your own web site, for example) incorporate and modify the animations for any non-commercial use.  Just give attribution however you would give attribution for other conventional art work (photos, for example).  Commercial use would be licensed separately with myself and Penn State's Intellectual Property Office.

Feel free to send me any questions, comments suggestions etc. that you might have.

Thanks for your interest.

Mike Gallis
 
mrg3@psu.edu