In one embodiment, a longitudinal camera array is rotated through a
capture cylinder, with each camera in the array capturing multiple images
as the array rotates. These images can be looking outward along the
radials of the cylinder, or alternatively looking tangential to the
cylinder. The longitudinal camera array allows the surrounding scene to
be captured from multiple different planes that are substantially
parallel to the ends of the capture cylinder, allowing for more accurate
subsequent rendering of the scene. A view of the scene can be
subsequently rendered by determining a location and direction of view of
an observer, and then selecting one or more of the multiple lateral and
longitudinally adjacent capture images, as well as one or more pixels
within that capture image(s), to use to determine a display value for the
pixel.