VES Member | Educator | Mocap & Virtual Production Innovator | Unreal Authorized Instructor | Epic MegaGrant Recipient
We’re honored to spotlight Dr. Carlos Vilchis, one of the most dynamic figures in today’s global virtual production and mocap landscape — a visionary educator, technologist, and advocate for democratizing access to high-end digital filmmaking tools across borders.
Currently Sr. Engineer, LATAM at Vicon Motion Systems, Carlos blends over 15 years of experience in VFX, CGI, and academic leadership with deep technical expertise in facial capture, real-time rendering, digital humans, and virtual production pipelines.
“What drives me the most is the ability to share knowledge and empower others,” Carlos reflects. “I love helping emerging talent — especially from underrepresented regions — to develop the skills and confidence they need to thrive in this industry. My work isn’t only about creating visuals. It’s about creating pathways.”
While a core expert in Vicon Shogun, Carlos’s workflow integrates a full ecosystem of tools for real-time and post-production pipelines:
This multi-platform fluency allows Carlos to build robust, flexible pipelines for both educational training modules and live production environments.
Carlos served as a Senior Mocap Technical Director on Industrial Light & Magic’s StageCraft Virtual Production team, contributing to some of the most technically ambitious LED volume productions in the world. His responsibilities included overseeing facial and full-body motion capture workflows, integrating optical and inertial systems, calibrating camera tracking for ICVFX (in-camera visual effects), and developing Unreal Engine-based performance capture pipelines for real-time virtual set environments. This hands-on production experience placed him at the forefront of innovation in real-time filmmaking.
Carlos holds a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Computer Science from Tecnológico de Monterrey, specializing in Facial Tracking, AI-integrated digital humans, and real-time Unreal Engine pipelines. His research focuses on combining FACS-based protocols, photogrammetry, AI-driven expression mapping, and real-time avatar control within Unreal Engine — creating naturalistic, emotionally responsive digital humans for virtual production and immersive storytelling applications.
A hallmark of Carlos’s recent work is his groundbreaking SIGGRAPH 2025 collaboration with CenterGrid and Vicon Motion Systems on a cloud-based mocap education pilot for Latin America:
“Remote Access to Vicon Motion Capture Training via Cloud Virtual Machines”.
Recognizing the geographical, licensing, and infrastructure barriers that limit mocap education in Latin America, Carlos designed a scalable, cloud-hosted solution. Working directly with the CenterGrid Virtual Studio SIGGRAPH testing lab, he architected a system hosting Vicon Shogun tools on high-performance cloud GPU workstations running Windows 11, powered by AMD EPYC paired with NVIDIA RTX A6000 GPUs.
Carlos led benchmarking and performance optimization, testing multiple configurations to ensure real-time responsiveness and system stability. The final AMD/RTX configuration consistently outperformed alternatives, enabling seamless remote access to enterprise-grade mocap tools without trial licenses or local hardware. The program successfully delivered mocap training to underserved regions for the first time, a transformative model for cloud-based VFX education globally.
In 2024, Carlos earned a prestigious Epic MegaGrant from Epic Games, awarded for his work with Eugenia Digital Humans — a Mexico-Canada-based AI-driven avatar studio he co-founded. The studio’s project, integrating AI-enhanced facial photogrammetry, FACS protocols, and motion capture pipelines for Unreal Engine-based metaverse avatars and real-time virtual characters, received a $60,000 USD grant to accelerate development.
Eugenia Digital Humans was subsequently named a Forbes Mexico Top 30 Startup of 2024, solidifying Carlos’s position as a leader in real-time avatar systems and digital human technologies.
Carlos is a passionate educator, having taught VFX, CGI, and virtual production for over a decade. He founded VirtualProduction.es, a platform delivering cutting-edge training and consulting services for emerging studios and academic programs.
He has served as an Unreal Authorized Instructor partner for Epic Games since 2021, offering certified training programs and developing curriculum for Unreal Engine-based virtual production, digital humans, and real-time filmmaking. Carlos also mentors new Unreal instructors globally and supports the program management of multiple Unreal Authorized Training Centers (UATCs).
In parallel, Carlos has been Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer at HCG Tech since 2015, leading the introduction of motion capture infrastructure to over 12 Spanish-speaking countries. Under his guidance, HCG Tech became the exclusive regional provider of Vicon systems in Mexico, specializing in consulting, pipeline design, and strategic product placement for animation studios, broadcast companies, film productions, and universities across Latin America.
Between 2014 and 2022, Carlos also served as Mocap for Animation & VFX Product Manager & Technical Trainer, creating academic adoption strategies for Vicon/Faceware products. He partnered with animation studios, universities, and governments to design technical education pipelines, develop courseware, and launch multi-country training programs — including train-the-trainer frameworks, custom curriculum, and educational product engineering for over five countries.
A Visual Effects Society (VES) member and active participant in communities like Autodesk M&E Professionals and Starting Pixel, Carlos regularly speaks at industry events, SIGGRAPH panels, and educational summits, advocating for inclusive, cloud-based virtual production education and access to real-time production tools worldwide.
Carlos will present his research and insights at SIGGRAPH 2025 as a featured panelist in:
Cloud Classrooms Without Borders: Democratizing Access to VFX, Animation, and Virtual Production Careers with Cloud GPU Labs
This panel will showcase three case studies exploring how cloud-based GPU labs and remote workstations are dismantling barriers to digital arts education worldwide. Carlos will discuss the CenterGrid/Vicon cloud mocap pilot and how this model is reshaping talent pipelines and virtual production training in underserved regions.
Carlos’s message for the next generation of creators:
“Never stop trying. Never stop learning. Success isn’t a straight path — it’s shaped by setbacks, failures, and breakthroughs. Embrace failure as part of the creative journey. If you’re passionate and persistent, your work will speak for itself. And remember: you belong in this industry, no matter where you’re from or what tools you start with.”
In addition to his panel appearance, Carlos Vilchis will be joining us live at Booth 511 on the SIGGRAPH show floor. Stop by to meet Carlos in person, hear about his cloud mocap education initiatives, the Latin America Virtual Production Summit, and his work advancing digital human and virtual production pipelines for underserved markets worldwide.
📍 Born in Mexico City, based in Vancouver, Canada
🎓 VES Member | Former ILM StageCraft TD | Ph.D. in Digital Humans & AI Facial Tracking | Epic MegaGrant Recipient
👉 Explore: www.virtualproduction.es
👉 Connect: Carlos Vilchis, PhD on LinkedIn
