The Virtual Microscope is a software that allows the interactive viewing of multi-dimensional datasets from multiple microscopes with high-resolution.
In terms of interface controls, the Virtual Microscope includes a replica of an actual microscope interface, which includes controls such as brightness, magnification (up to 1800x), navigation, measurement, and annotation. Additionally, SEM samples come with a contrast control and focus control, which makes capturing and manipulating images more flexible and dynamic.
The navigation and magnification controls of this software surpass many other virtual microscopes as it allows users to explore any point of interest on the sample at their own pace, whereas other virtual microscopes have only a few 'hot spots' that can be magnified and explored.
The focus control is another feature that sets the Virtual Microscope apart from competitors. The focus control enables the user to glide through an arbitrary number of focal planes, bringing items closer, and farther into focus. This feature is particularly useful with thick specimens viewed in the SEM.
The Virtual Microscope has an annotation tool that is incredibly useful for both experts and laypeople alike. These annotations can be saved and reloaded as XML files, making it easier to teach details about data and allow teachers to ask students to identify data features as homework.
Automated data collection is an essential feature in Virtual Microscope. This software enables users to capture thousands of images to fully describe a single specimen, allowing the user to explore any point at varying magnifications with multiple focal planes. As a result, some datasets can be several gigabytes (GB) in size. In order to accurately and efficiently collect data, Virtual Microscope is equipped with various software programs that automatically control the instruments.
The Virtual Microscope software for SEM is based on a previous project called Bugscope, an online educational outreach project that provides real-time access to SEM over the web so that school children can look at bugs from their backyards. The remote-control software used in Bugscope has been leveraged into an automated data-collection package for the SEM. On the Light Microscope, Virtual Microscopy uses Openlab, and has plans to distribute tiling scripts in case you have a similar system.
Finally, each Virtual Microscope specimen is given a unique specimen identification number to ensure its validity. Users building new samples can generate a new specimen ID, and the software will verify whether the specimen has a valid ID automatically.
In order to use Virtual Microscope, your computer must meet the following requirements: Mac OS X 10.4 or later and Java 1.5.
Version 6.2.2: N/A