We present a new framework for rendering virtual environments. This fr
amework is proposed as a complete scene description, which embodies th
e space of all possible renderings, under all possible lighting scenar
ios of the given scene. In effect, this hypothetical rendering space i
ncludes all possible light sources as part of the geometric model. Whi
le it would be impractical to implement the general framework, this ap
proach does allow us to look at the rendering problem in a new way. Th
us, we propose new representations that are subspaces of the entire re
ndering space. Some of these subspaces are computationally tractable a
nd may be carefully chosen to serve a particular application. The appr
oach is useful both for real and virtual scenes. The framework include
s methods for rendering environments which are illuminated by artifici
al light, natural light, or a combination of the two models.