I have had this happen several times, including in wake-induced-lucid-dreams. In the most memorable one, I was in an environment where the beings resembled characters from the cartoon DragonBall Z. They looked "real" and 3D, but at the same time clearly "drawn". I interacted with them for several minutes. I think I interpret this as a "collective thought realm" revolving around the show DragonBall Z, which has worldwide popularity. One of my most amazing AP experiences to date was in an environment that I intepreted as a collective thought realm of the computer game "Lords of Magic".