I haven’t started to learn animation yet but I was just playing with particles. Here is a strange little animation. It uses particles with parented rings. Wierd motion of rings. I like it. 
You will need the DivX codec. (DivX Rocks! 8))
What ja think?
Link wont work… 
I downloaded it myself to make sure it does. It worked ok for me. :-? Would you try again please? 
Did you try save target as and save it to your movies file for DivX?
you need to copy ‘n’ paste the link into a new browser window.
three-dee, it probably works ok for you since you have cookies from lycos still on your pc I guess.
nice starting out anim though!
edit: oops, you’re right “save target as” works ok, it’s just clicking on the link that’s a problem.
Now it worked,… mayby some temporary condition last time…
Okay that was neat, but now try adding some IPOs to your rings. Remember that particle IPOs are 100 frames long. Try having them fluctuate in size or fade through a rainbow of colors. Just be creative. Maybe try giving them an interesting path with a parented lattice.