Real-time 3D refers to a mode of 3D presentation in which spaces and objects are not delivered as pre-rendered, fixed images, but are generated and updated on the fly through computation. In the provided context, game engines, real-time simulation, and techniques such as 3D Gaussian Splatting are described as ways to transform traces of real-world objects and places into an operable real-time world. In this sense, the work exists as a live environment that continuously loads and changes data rather than as a finished static image.
A key feature of real-time 3D is the role of the viewer or participant. The context emphasizes a shift from simply looking at a screen to physically operating a computed environment. In the lineage of media art discussed here, Myron Krueger’s VIDEOPLACE is important because it combined the viewer’s body image with computer graphics in real time, creating an artificial reality without requiring a headset or gloves. This points to a relationship between body, interface, and real-time computation as the defining structure.
John Gerrard’s SPIRITS (Summer Solstice) is another example: the world is rendered “live,” and the virtual sculptures exist only at the moment they are streamed to the device through data that is read and changed in real time. Real-time 3D therefore concerns not only immediacy of display, but also the idea that the world itself is constituted as an ongoing computational process. At the same time, the more intuitive the experience becomes, the less visible the underlying infrastructure of engines, servers, and data formats may be.