I have downloaded and installed a piece of freeware called “CombineZM” which rivals Helicon Focus in its ability to stack multiple images and produce 2D combined image at different focus planes. It also is not limited to the same extent in terms of the type of image it imports. It works up to Windows 10.
However, it does not produce 3D images.
The following pictures are re-processed from previously obtained stacks – see previous posts for comparable stacked images using Helicon Focus. The images below were stacked in CombineZM.
Andy
CombineZM-Diatom-in-Stowe-Pool-jar-culture-200118-32x-obj.jpg:
I love this image – vacuoles and other organelles are seen in the diatom, together with the crenulations of the chiton shell on the creature. Outside the main diatom, hundreds of bacteria can be seen, amongst various debris. See the end of this post for information on how to interpret what you see in this picture and the next one of the empty skeletal remains of a dead diatom.
CombineZM-stack-empty-diatom-skeleton-200118-32x-obj.jpg:
Interpreting the pictures above:
The following diagram comes from Wikipedia and shows the different parts of the diatom. Which of these can you see in the photos above? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatom