Image-based rendering is being used in movies and sporting events for creating photorealistic 3-D computer images and animations from photographs.
Current research aims at combining image-based rendering with traditional geometric modeling to create models called “imposters” that combine the advantages of geometric models with the photorealistic detail of image-based rendering.

The best-known example of image-based rendering was in last year’s Super Bowl, where a network of cameras filmed players from multiple angles, software rendered new images to fill in the angles in-between the cameras, producing a continuous 3-D view of the play in near-real time.