All of the examples on this page were shot with a Logitech Webcam 4000. Before starting I used Logitechs Quick Capture utility to make sure the webcam would default to 640x480 pixels by setting it to this resolution then exiting it.
These Ice Chrystals were captured thawing 1 shot every 6 seconds all of the examples are a bit contrived as I wanted quick results, if you are patient and take many more shots you can get a smoothe running movie.
Ice Chrystals If
the movies do not play try this link, or save the target on your
computer.
The webcam is plugged into the USB port of the computer, CombineZM will handle the grabbing of still frames for you, with the Logitech I found the maximum frame rate to be one every two seconds.
The first thing to do is to load a Macro Set into CZM, if you would like to try my version it is here. Download it and save it in the same folder as CombineZM.exe.
Now start CZM and go to the Macro menu and click on 'Load Macro Set' and find 'Timelapse'. Once this is loaded there will be a new item on the Macro menu 'Timelapse'.
Before starting the Timelapse Macro there are two more steps, tell the computer what camera to use and make adjustments to the camera and microscope etc.
To identify your camera to the program goto the File menu, find the Aquire Image(s) sub menu and click on Select Source. This will bring up a dialog that lists the devices connected to your computer, there may only be the one, select the camera you wish to use.
To get a preview of what the camera can see press 'F5' or click Toggle Video on the View menu, the preview will fill the window but will be 320*240 pixels or smaller, don't worry the pictures will still be grabbed at 640*480 if you set this as descriobed above.
To alter the camera settings press 'F6' or click on Logitech Camera Settings which is on the Macro menu, the Logitech drivers setting dialog should appear.
Potassium Permanganate chrystals disolving pictures taken every 3 seconds.
We are now ready to start shooting a timelapse sequence of frames.
Start the Timelapse Macro a dialog will appear, change any of the interframe
times you wish, remember the 2 second minimum.
(there is a bug in the program which may make the macro abort at this stage,
just start it again.)
Click OK and shooting should start.
To finish either press the Escape Key or click the Cancel/End Macro button on the Progress dialog, you may need to do this a few times before the macro actually stops running.
This is what happens when a drop of alcohol falls on a piece of paper and evaporates frames captured at 2 second intervals and made into a movie with 80 ms between frames.
Having grabbed the frames use items on the Movie menu to save them either as a Movie (.wmv format omnly) or as a set of frames to be made into a movie in an external oprogram. Remember you can crop all frames by dragging a box around the required area before making a movie or exporting the frames.