Welcome to our Java-powered Intel^® Play™ QX3™ Computer Web Microscope. Instructions for control of the microscope are given below the tutorial window.

When the interactive tutorial initializes, it loads the Live View menu with a simulated live video feed appearing in the larger window. A single digital image from the video feed can be captured locally on your computer by clicking on the Snapshot button positioned on the lower left-hand side of the Live View window. After capturing the image a thumbnail view will be loaded into the smaller Preview window directly beneath the Live View window. To select a new specimen, use the Choose A Specimen pull-down menu located beneath the virtual computer monitor.

The Record Movie and Time-Lapse features also work on this Java-powered browser client. To record a movie, click on the Record Movie button positioned to the right of the preview window. As the movie is being recorded, a red progress bar slowly inches to the right below the preview window. Movie control buttons operate in a similar manner to the real software, as discussed in our Live View software analysis.

Time-lapse sequences can also be recorded with our Java client software using instructions outlined in our Time-Lapse software discussion. After recording single digital images or movies, they are stored in the collection and are available for previewing or playback in the Main menu of the Java client software. These images are stored temporarily in the computer's memory, and will vanish when a new Web page is loaded.

Microscope Help is available by clicking on the blue question mark button in the upper left corner of the monitor. After clicking on the Help button, roll the mouse over other buttons or windows and click once to pop a dialog box explaining the function of the button or window. Microscope controls remain inactive during Help sessions. To exit Help, click on the exit X in the upper right hand of any dialog box.

When you are successfully captured the digital image and it appears in the Preview window, click on the Reverse Green Arrow button at the lower left corner of the monitor. This will launch the Main menu with the image appearing in the large Main Activity window. You can then click on the Collection button to launch the Collection window containing thumbnails of all the images you have collected, or use the buttons to the right of the Main Activity window to navigate to the Paint and Special Effects menus. The functions of various tools available in these menus are fully described in our Intel QX3 Software section of the Science, Optics & You website.

Questions or comments? Send us an email.

© 1995-2022 by Michael W. Davidson, Kirill I. Tchourioukanov, and The Florida State University. All Rights Reserved. No images, graphics, software, scripts, or applets may be reproduced or used in any manner without permission from the copyright holders. Use of this website means you agree to the Legal Terms and Conditions set forth by the owners.

This website is maintained by our
Graphics & Web Programming Team
in collaboration with Optical Microscopy at the
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory.

The QX3 microscope design is copyrighted © 2022 by Mattel, Inc. Intel® Play™ is a registered trademark of the Intel Corporation. These companies reserve all of their rights and privileges under copyright law. The material contained in this website is solely the opinion of the authors and is intended for eduational use only.

Last Modification Friday, Nov 13, 2015 at 01:19 PM

Access Count Since December 24, 1999: 138631

Visit the official Intel Play website:

Visit the websites of our partners in education: