Welcome to XTALENT

This site is a launchpad for a number of diverse passions I now pursue in my spare time. Have a quick look around at what there is on offer.

Virtual Walkabouts – virtually go on nature walks to beautiful natural places.
Half the fun of going somewhere is the actual journey involved in getting there!
Being disabled or infirm should not preclude you from enjoying some of Australia’s most beautiful nature walks.
A unique experience; no effort required and no other people on the track to spoil the experience. Better still exercise as best you can using the virtual track before you as motivation.
The 2006 Walkabout Series have unique seismic didjeridu soundtracks performed by Tjupurru.

Images – An extensive image gallery of things microscopic and macroscopic – See things beyond your wildest imagination and interact with other registered gallery users. Images may also be used free of charge for non-profit purposes, especially the education of young minds.

webEM – I spent many years in the Electron Microscopy and Microanalysis Community specialising in live interactive Remote Access Scanning Electron Microscopy.
I have since developed Six Virtual Electron Microscopy Explorations to allow people to go on similar fantastic voyages of discovery using their favourite web browser.
I hope you enjoy and discover much!

The Wizard’s Crystal Game – This True Colours Game will hopefully become a much loved and treasured game around the world.
Make one for yourself for FREE or purchase one of the limited edition collector games.
The latest incarnation is a Virtual World Experience being developed on a firewalled OpenSimulator Enterprise Strategy Grid.

Virtual Walkabouts

Get away from it all!

The environmentally friendly way to experience some of the World’s most beautiful nature trails.

These multimedia artworks recreate nature walks for viewers as streaming slideshows, featuring hundreds of photographs, accompanied by the wonderful melodies and ongoing urging sound of the didjeribone (slide didjeridu) and Face Bass performed by Tjupurru.

Note: Didjeridu is sometimes spelt didgeridoo, didjeridoo and didgeridu, but the Australian government and all its agencies have formally accepted didjeridu as the correct spelling.

The collection so far visually documents walking tracks in selected Australian National Parks and Nature Reserves, including many amazing walks through World Heritage areas. Often narrow trails traverse very sensitive and fragile areas. Viewers are strongly discouraged from physically visiting these off-the-beaten-track areas themselves, thereby exerting further pressure on them.

Hopefully many folk will be satisfied with an environmentally friendly Virtual Walkabout, especially one free of sunburn, rain, annoying flies, biting midges, blood-sucking leeches, parasitic ticks, poisonous snakes and spiders and stinging trees. I had all that fun!

A Virtual Walkabout is an experience that both the ‘in form’ and infirm can enjoy in a number of ways

Albert River Track

Scale and Magnification

An Australian 20 cent piece magnified 20 million times would cover S.E. Queensland!
An Australian 20 cent piece magnified 400 million times would have the same diameter as planet earth!

Bacteria on the head of a pin

The subject is a pin with bacteria on it. Progressively the magnification increases to the point that resolution is exceeded with Scanning Electron Microscopes and we shift to the higher resolution of Transmission Electron Microscopes. We increase in magnification until we resolve columns of atoms in various crystal planes in the magnetosome of a magnetotactic bacteria.

Scanning Electron Micrograph (SEM) of the head of a metal pin.
Magnification x 33.
SEM – Magnification x 45
SEM – Magnification x 100
SEM – Magnification x 200
SEM – Magnification x 350
SEM – Magnification x 500
SEM – Magnification x 1,000
SEM – Magnification x 3,000
SEM – Magnification x 5,000
SEM – Magnification x 15,000
SEM – Magnification x 30,000
SEM – Magnification x 75 000
Transmission Electron Micrograph (TEM)
Transmission Electron Micrograph (TEM)
Transmission Electron Micrograph (TEM)
Transmission Electron Micrograph (TEM)
Transmission Electron Micrograph (TEM)
Transmission Electron Micrograph (TEM)
Transmission Electron Micrograph (TEM)

Virtual Microscopy

Discover webEM !

A web portal for the Electron Microscopy and Microanalysis Community to further promote recent advances in microscopy and nanotechnology, especially live interactive Remote Access Microscopy. Go on a fantastic voyage of discovery from the comfort of your own home, schoolroom, research station or boardroom, using only your favourite web browser.

WEBEM – Virtual Electron Microscopy

A large number of individual images of a number of unique specimens have been linked in web browser based Scanning Electron Microscopy explorations.

Select one of the images below to begin an exploration, or click on the relevant link to the left in the NAV MENU.

XTALENT Image Gallery

An extensive image gallery of things microscopic and macroscopic

As a keen photographer of things macroscopic, I include a large portion of my growing personal collection. Many of my images, both microscopic and macroscopic, are used by artists as inspiration and this is something I encourage.

A sample of images to be found in the XTALENT Image Gallery. Explore further !!

walkabout_bkg

Naturally some categories in the parent XTALENT Image Gallery have restricted access but hopefully you will find enough to delight your senses.

If you register, you have access to many other features which allow you to interact with the gallery and other members.

Dig deep! I trust you will be inspired and enlightened by what you uncover.

THE NANOWORLD IMAGE GALLERY

The Nanoworld Image Gallery that I started nearly 20 years ago for The Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis (The University of Queensland) is now being hosted here as a Special Gallery within the XTALENT Image Gallery.

A sample of images to be found in the Nanoworld Image Gallery. Explore further !!

Image24

APPROVED IMAGE USE

The copying of images, and their subsequent FREE use, is permitted subject to the following conditions:

  • use is strictly not-for-profit use
  • the source of the image(s) must be clearly indicated
  • user is a Registered XTALENT Image Gallery Member
  • if used on a web page then a link to the XTALENT Image Gallery must be provided

Many images in the XTALENT Image Gallery are available for non-exclusive commercial use, subject to the following conditions:

  • licensee is a Registered XTALENT Image Gallery Member
  • that the source of the image(s) is clearly indicated in the commercial publication
  • and that a licensing fee per image used MUST be paid to XTAL ENTERPRISES BEFORE publication

LICENSE FEES

License fees vary depending on the nature of the image required and are strictly for non-exclusive use. Severe penalties exist for non-licensed commercial use of XTALENT Image Gallery images.

Specialist Electron Micrographs in the gallery attract a license fee of AUS$100 (exc. 10% GST) per publication.

Most modern electron microscopes capture images digitally with framegrabbers with resolutions far less than that provided by conventional film. Consequently most images captured in this manner can only be printed at a maximum of A4 size (297 x 210 mm) or Letter size (11 x 8.5 in).

Some images in the XTALENT collection come from archive negatives and if these are still accessible, a new image may be rescanned at higher resolution, but this will attract an additional fee of AUS$50 per image. Images with archive film negatives are noted in their descriptions.

All non-specialist images attract a license fee of AUS$80 (exc. 10% GST) per publication.

All non-specialist images may be printed at a maximum of A4 size (297 x 210 mm) or Letter size (11 x 8.5 in).

Please Note that many images in the collection are digitally watermarked using DigiMarc Technology in order to protect copyright. This watermarking may give the appearance of reduced image quality.