User manual DIGITAL BLUE QX3 COMPUTER MICROSOPE ACTIVITY GUIDE

[. . . ] 1318 Activity Guide Final 03/12/2002 04:19 PM Page 1 Having fun--letting your imagination soar Digital Blue QX3 Computer Microscope TM TM Welcome to the microscopic world. With your QX3 microscope, you are limited only by your imagination. TM What you can do The QX3TM microscope lets you do many things you can't do with an ordinary microscope: See tiny things on your computer. Produce your own movies and slide shows. Watch out, Kids! An adult should set up and install hardware and software. Also, only an adult should replace the light bulbs. Group activities Another great thing about the QX3TM microscope is that you and your friends can play with it together. [. . . ] As you move the slider from left to right, you can see the rate change in the display under the slider. You can set it from one picture every second to one picture every hour. Once you've set your time lapse, you click on the Record button to start it. A display under the Record button shows the total time since you started the time lapse. The Settings control display now functions as a countdown timer to show you the length of time between snapshots. The display below the countdown tracks the total number of snapshots taken. 2 hours Condensation clouds the top cover. 4 hours Droplets start to form, but we could still see the critters in the background. 6 hours Large droplets make a pretty and interesting pattern on the screen. Pond scum-- the movie We made an overnight time lapse of less than a teaspoon of water from a garden pond. We had expected to get a movie of the little critters zipping around, but we got an even more interesting surprise!Here is what our movie looked like when we began. 8 hours The water drops continue to grow larger and the midges cavort! 10 hours A sparkling waterworld takes shape with shadowy blobs behind it. 12 hours Eventually the screen looks like giant glistening blisters! 8 collecting and viewing -- making a time-lapse movie 1318 Activity Guide Final 03/12/2002 04:20 PM Page 9 Y O U R A C T I V I T Y B O O K Doing it yourself We've shown you what happened when we made Pond Scum-- The Movie. Follow these steps to make The Return of Pond Scum. Adjust the brightness until the image is as clear and bright as possible. How to do it right When you're making movies of things in water, prevent condensation by leaving the lid off the containment dish. This way you can actually see the critters moving around. li ca ghts ac mera . n. To make the time-lapse movie, click the Time Lapse button. While you're outside playing, look for standing water with little creatures swimming and twitching in it. Set the timer to take one snapshot every 30 seconds. Then click Record. Other good subjects Mix some yeast, sugar and water and put a few drops in the containment dish. A worm. Put some in your sample jar or other small container. Let it run overnight. Before going to your computer, put some of the water in a containment dish. To end the time lapse, click the Stop button. TIP: Record a short movie in regular time to see the difference between this and Time Lapse mode. Carefully place the uncovered containment dish on the sample platform. Now you're ready to watch your movie Preview your movie in the small preview window by clicking the Play button. You can also take the movie to Special Effects and modify it. Making the best of your time If you do a time-lapse movie that will record while you're not at the computer, make sure nobody shuts off the computer during recording. Print your warning sign and hang it on your monitor. Set the magnification to low. Select bottom lighting. Focus on the smallest critter you can see. me e so to Tak ots sh snap are to . p e com e laps tim your collecting and viewing -- making a time-lapse movie 9 1318 Activity Guide Final 03/12/2002 04:20 PM Page 10 Hungering for more? investigating Main and beyond Import pictures. Quit the software. Quit button When you click the Quit button, you'll get a chance to change your mind. You need to go to Main to quit. Main buttons Paint button Goes to Paint where you can modify your pictures with cool tools. Special Effects button Takes you to a screen where you can give special effects to pictures and movies. For more information about the controls in Main, press F1 for Online Help. Collection window Look through the pictures and movies in your collection, nine at a time, by using the forward and back arrows. Movies have filmstrip borders. Taking a look at Main Now that you've gathered your specimens and captured pictures and movies, let's explore Main to find out what else you can do with things you've found in the microscopic world. Return to Live View. Show button Opens one of the software's most popular features where you can assemble slide shows with music!Print button Print your pictures on a single page, on four pages to make a poster, or on stickers. Collection button View your collection and choose a picture or movie to look at or use in one of the main activity screens. [. . . ] The OK button saves your changes and returns you to Show with the first slide in the viewing area. 14 investigating Main and beyond -- making a slide show 1318 Activity Guide Final 03/12/2002 04:20 PM Page 15 Y O U R A C T I V I T Y B O O K When you remove a slide from a show, you do not delete it from your collection. But if you delete a picture or movie from your collection it will also disappear from any show it was in. TIP: Making your own slide show Getting ready to begin It's good to have a plan before putting a slide show together. As you put your show together, list the pictures, movies and text you think you need but don't have in your collection. Once you've got a plan, click the Create Show button and choose one of the tabs. [. . . ]