Non-tomographic Imaging

Although the OPT scanner was invented for generating tomographic reconstructions, it rapidly became apparent that the ability to make movies of specimen rotating at high magnification was useful in itself. The true 3D shape of an object is much easier to grasp from a movie of the object rotating than from a series of still photographs. Illuminating the specimen from the side creates shadows which also help to define the surface. Movies like these will be used in the Edinburgh Mouse Atlas as a means of illustrating the appearance of embryos staged according to the Teiler Staging criteria.