diff --git a/interface/src/Application.cpp b/interface/src/Application.cpp
index 571cf493bd..3a4b1e9c62 100644
--- a/interface/src/Application.cpp
+++ b/interface/src/Application.cpp
@@ -2795,7 +2795,27 @@ QImage Application::renderAvatarBillboard() {
     return image;
 }
 
+// FIXME, preprocessor guard this check to occur only in DEBUG builds
+static QThread * activeRenderingThread = nullptr;
+
+ViewFrustum* Application::getViewFrustum() {
+    if (QThread::currentThread() == activeRenderingThread) {
+        // FIXME, should this be an assert?
+        qWarning() << "Calling Application::getViewFrustum() from the active rendering thread, did you mean Application::getDisplayViewFrustum()?";
+    }
+    return &_viewFrustum;
+}
+
+ViewFrustum* Application::getDisplayViewFrustum() {
+    if (QThread::currentThread() != activeRenderingThread) {
+        // FIXME, should this be an assert?
+        qWarning() << "Calling Application::getDisplayViewFrustum() from outside the active rendering thread or outside rendering, did you mean Application::getViewFrustum()?";
+    }
+    return &_displayViewFrustum;
+}
+
 void Application::displaySide(Camera& theCamera, bool selfAvatarOnly, RenderArgs::RenderSide renderSide) {
+    activeRenderingThread = QThread::currentThread();
     PROFILE_RANGE(__FUNCTION__);
     PerformanceTimer perfTimer("display");
     PerformanceWarning warn(Menu::getInstance()->isOptionChecked(MenuOption::PipelineWarnings), "Application::displaySide()");
@@ -3020,6 +3040,7 @@ void Application::displaySide(Camera& theCamera, bool selfAvatarOnly, RenderArgs
         glClear(GL_DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT);
         _overlays.renderWorld(true);
     }
+    activeRenderingThread = nullptr;
 }
 
 void Application::updateUntranslatedViewMatrix(const glm::vec3& viewMatrixTranslation) {
diff --git a/interface/src/Application.h b/interface/src/Application.h
index b013692393..ae68374fed 100644
--- a/interface/src/Application.h
+++ b/interface/src/Application.h
@@ -174,8 +174,12 @@ public:
     bool isThrottleRendering() const { return _glWidget->isThrottleRendering(); }
 
     Camera* getCamera() { return &_myCamera; }
-    ViewFrustum* getViewFrustum() { return &_viewFrustum; }
-    ViewFrustum* getDisplayViewFrustum() { return &_displayViewFrustum; }
+    // Represents the current view frustum of the avatar.  
+    ViewFrustum* getViewFrustum();
+    // Represents the view frustum of the current rendering pass, 
+    // which might be different from the viewFrustum, i.e. shadowmap 
+    // passes, mirror window passes, etc
+    ViewFrustum* getDisplayViewFrustum();
     ViewFrustum* getShadowViewFrustum() { return &_shadowViewFrustum; }
     const OctreePacketProcessor& getOctreePacketProcessor() const { return _octreeProcessor; }
     EntityTreeRenderer* getEntities() { return &_entities; }
diff --git a/interface/src/avatar/Avatar.cpp b/interface/src/avatar/Avatar.cpp
index 75d77b780a..d2f0f815df 100644
--- a/interface/src/avatar/Avatar.cpp
+++ b/interface/src/avatar/Avatar.cpp
@@ -338,7 +338,7 @@ void Avatar::render(const glm::vec3& cameraPosition, RenderMode renderMode, bool
     // simple frustum check
     float boundingRadius = getBillboardSize();
     ViewFrustum* frustum = (renderMode == Avatar::SHADOW_RENDER_MODE) ?
-        Application::getInstance()->getShadowViewFrustum() : Application::getInstance()->getViewFrustum();
+        Application::getInstance()->getShadowViewFrustum() : Application::getInstance()->getDisplayViewFrustum();
     if (frustum->sphereInFrustum(getPosition(), boundingRadius) == ViewFrustum::OUTSIDE) {
         return;
     }
diff --git a/interface/src/ui/overlays/Overlays.cpp b/interface/src/ui/overlays/Overlays.cpp
index c7b350f100..158deb00ff 100644
--- a/interface/src/ui/overlays/Overlays.cpp
+++ b/interface/src/ui/overlays/Overlays.cpp
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ void Overlays::renderWorld(bool drawFront, RenderArgs::RenderMode renderMode, Re
     float myAvatarScale = 1.0f;
     
     auto lodManager = DependencyManager::get<LODManager>();
-    RenderArgs args = { NULL, Application::getInstance()->getViewFrustum(),
+    RenderArgs args = { NULL, Application::getInstance()->getDisplayViewFrustum(),
                         lodManager->getOctreeSizeScale(),
                         lodManager->getBoundaryLevelAdjust(),
                         renderMode, renderSide,