The possibility of synthesizing light fields satisfying given requirements within a three-dimensional (3-D) space domain was proposed and demonstrated during recent years. In this paper we present fundamental physical properties characterizing 3-D fields and propose analytical and numerical procedures to synthesize them. These methods solve the proper wave equation under 3-D constraints. Since the manipulation of light is a basic task, this is an effective approach to deal with classical as well as novel problems in optics and photonics technologies. We discuss exciting new potential areas of application and extensions of this concept.