The Adler Planetarium's Space Visualization Lab (SVL) is now open and SVL will be starting a new monthly visualization seminar series, which will highlight advances various topics of visualization technology and its uses. The series is intended to keep Adler staff, who are interested in the topic, up to date with current advances in the field.

The SVL Seminar Series begins on Friday March 30 at 3pm with a talk given by EVL's Robert Kooima, "Varrier: A New Technology for Autostereoscopic Virtual Reality."

The Varrier is a hardware/software system for autostereoscopic virtual reality: a real-time immersive display that enables 3D stereo viewing without the need for 3D glasses. The Varrier project has been ongoing at EVL for more than 6 years, and during this time the technology has evolved from a research concept to an installable finished product.

Koomia's talk looks at the past, present, and future of the Varrier system. This will involve a discussion of the basics of autostereo viewing and virtual reality, the wide variety of Varrier displays put into service over the years, and the technological advances that have led to Varrier's success as platform. Additionally, the talk covers the current state of autostereo research at EVL, the directions the work is going, and take a sneak a peek at future displays now in development.