Volumetric Visions- From Sutherland’s Ultimate Display to Ishii’s Transform
D. Pillis
Abstract
In 1965, Ivan Sutherland described a room that could simulate reality itself. Sixty years later, we are still building toward that dream. From Sutherland's 1965 vision of the Ultimate Display to Hiroshi Ishii's Transform, this talk traces the history of the Holodeck, charting the visionaries, breakthroughs, and future possibilities that shape the pursuit of fully immersive simulated environments. New and exciting landmark research in fields of perceptual engineering, virtual production, and multisensory artificial intelligence pave the way towards a future of programmable experiences, bringing the holodeck from fiction into the future.
Bio
Daniel Pillis is an Assistant Professor of Virtual Production at Emerson College, where he is directing research in generative AI filmmaking, immersive multisensory intelligence, and human-robot interaction for virtual production. He holds a Master of Media Arts and Sciences from the MIT Media Lab, where he studied under Dr. Hiroshi Ishii, a pioneer in human-computer interaction, and an MFA from Carnegie Mellon University, where he was mentored by Dr. Ivan E. Sutherland, a foundational figure in computer graphics. Pillis previously served as Research Assistant Professor of Immersive Environments for The Cube at Virginia Tech, a one-of-a-kind $15 million immersive VR research facility, and as a research assistant at the CMU Robotics Institute. At MIT, Pillis collaborated to lead the TeleAbsence research initiative, producing a peer-reviewed journal publication in MIT Press's Presence Journal. His recent research has been featured in MIT News, and invited for presentations at HubSpot, HarvardXR, and IEEE VR in St. Malo, France. In 2025, his work on real-time stable diffusion for virtual production won Best Presentation at MIT's Generative AI for Design Workshop.
