Actually the video game industry has been doing this for a while now. Instead of making figures using geometry, the figures are simply cylinders with displacement maps on the arms, legs, chest etc. Then the 3d card does the geom creation on the fly. The result is a figure that can render in unlimited resolutions without making detail levels. Far away they render as very low poly figures. Up close you can even see buttons on the shirts. I'm surprised no one has tried this already thought this doesn mean you're reliant on fire fly for your renders or any package that accepts displacement maps.