Volumetric Hyper-Reality, A Computer Graphics Holy Grail for the 21st Century?

This paper starts by examining the issues related to integrating real and virtual objects in a virtual reality environment. In particular it discusses the problems of occlusion, shadows and specular reflections. As an alternative to immersive virtual reality, this paper considers existing 3-D display technologies . It then discusses the limitations of these approaches and presents a thought experiment to design a completely general volumetric display. Such a displ ay would convincingly create the illusion of objects with arbitrary optical properties. A metallic object depicted using the display would reflect the visual surroundings of the display . Dielectric materials wo ul d show correct refraction and reflection effects. Light shone on the display would illuminate the virtual objects within it. When programmed to depict empty space, the display would, for all practical purposes, disappear, rendering the contained volume invisible. Incremental steps towards such a device are discussed.