He, J. & Huisken, J. Nat. Commun. 11, 150 (2020).

Selective plane illumination microscopy (SPIM) uses light sheets to illuminate samples and has proven exceptionally useful for imaging developing embryos and larger samples, such as cleared tissues. However, SPIM image quality can be affected by optical aberrations, especially when imaging thick samples. One strategy for improving 3D images is collecting multiple views of the same specimen and merging them, which yields more complete coverage of the sample. He and Huisken developed an alternative approach to improve sample coverage called smart rotation. Smart rotation works on the fly to optimize imaging views and automate sample rotation, which maximizes sample coverage while limiting overall imaging. Automating smart rotation required development of custom microscope control tools, including software for rapidly processing image data and communicating the optimal view to the microscope. The authors directly compared multiview imaging with smart-rotation-based imaging of zebrafish embryos and showed that their workflow offers better coverage with fewer views.