A Role Built on Efficiency
As the motion capture stage lead, Rob is responsible for everything from managing Gearbox’s mocap hardware to improving their pipelines across offices in Frisco, Montreal, and Quebec City. His team supports the broader Gearbox studio ecosystem, providing full-service body and facial capture.
“Our entire goal is to support the animators. Markerless fits right into that. It’s all about removing friction and letting creativity flow.”
– Robert Fernandez, Motion Capture Lead at Gearbox Software
By staying on the cutting edge of mocap hardware and software, Rob ensures Gearbox can produce high-fidelity animation while keeping production timelines on track. Incorporating markerless motion capture into their toolkit is a natural progression in that mission.
Vicon’s markerless motion capture technology goes far beyond visual fidelity, it’s a production tool designed to remove bottlenecks, unlock creativity, and allow teams to focus more on storytelling and less on setup. By empowering artists, animators, and developers to jump straight into the creative process, it enables faster iteration, seamless collaboration, and higher quality results at every stage of development. At GDC 2025, Vicon conducted a fireside chat with Robert Fernandez, Motion Capture Lead at Gearbox Software, to discuss how markerless mocap is changing the way their teams work on titles like Borderlands.
From faster prototyping to smoother pipelines, Gearbox’s early use of Vicon’s system shows just how transformative markerless tech can be.
What Makes Mocap Special?
For Rob, motion capture is more than just a technical step, it’s where characters truly come alive. After months or even years of character development, it’s the mocap performance that gives those creations their emotional resonance and player-facing personality.
“Seeing a character go from a static pose to a dynamic, expressive performance is something magical. It’s what players connect with most.”
– Robert Fernandez, Motion Capture Lead at Gearbox Software
Markerless mocap brings even more flexibility to this process. With minimal setup time and no need for suits or markers, performers can jump into the volume and begin experimenting with physicality and expression. The reduced technical overhead means more time can be spent refining the artistry.
Speed and Simplicity
One of the most compelling benefits of Vicon’s markerless mocap system is speed. Where a traditional optical setup might require 30 to 40 minutes for marker placement and calibration, Gearbox can now complete an entire capture session in that time.
“We’re able to capture everything we need, face, body, multiple actions, and have the data delivered to animators in under two hours. That’s huge.”
– Robert Fernandez, Motion Capture Lead at Gearbox Software
Because the system is so intuitive, animators and layout artists with no previous mocap experience can operate the system and even perform within it. This opens up a new level of creative autonomy. Artists no longer need to rely solely on dedicated mocap teams, they can test, iterate, and explore ideas themselves. This has been particularly valuable for layout work and early animation blocking, where quick tests and rough performances help establish tone and timing.
Unlocking Creative Prototyping
Game development is an iterative process, and the ability to rapidly prototype is crucial. With markerless mocap, Gearbox can generate multiple variations of character movements, idles, attacks, fidgets, and more, and pass them to stakeholders for review almost instantly.
This not only speeds up internal approvals, but also helps align teams across locations. Whether animators are in Montreal or directors are in Frisco, the mocap team can quickly share high-fidelity performances that look and feel like the final product.
“It’s perfect for previz. Animators can hop in, capture a performance, and we can visualise how it fits into a cinematic or gameplay moment within the same day.”
– Robert Fernandez, Motion Capture Lead at Gearbox Software
Seamless Integration with Shōgun
Speed and quality are only part of the equation. For a studio like Gearbox, tool compatibility is essential. Vicon’s markerless solution integrates directly into the Shōgun ecosystem that Gearbox already uses, making the transition effortless.
“That was the most exciting part, it just worked. No retooling, no new training. We connected it to our pipeline, and we were capturing and delivering immediately.”
– Robert Fernandez, Motion Capture Lead at Gearbox Software
Shōgun Post provides robust data cleaning and management features, which means the mocap data coming out of the markerless system matches the quality standards Gearbox expects. As Rob notes, even during the beta phase, the data fidelity was high enough for production use.
A Future Built for Animators
Looking ahead, Rob sees markerless mocap not just as a tool for mocap specialists, but as an everyday resource for animators and creatives across the studio.
Whether they’re building cinematic sequences, testing gameplay actions, or iterating on new characters, artists can now explore motion and performance earlier and more often. This helps shape the game’s visual identity from the ground up.
And because the barrier to entry is so low, even small studios or new teams within Gearbox can harness high-quality motion capture without investing in a full optical setup.
“It’s not just about data. It’s about giving animators the power to shape character performance early, and often.”
– Robert Fernandez, Motion Capture Lead at Gearbox Software
Learn More
Explore how Vicon’s markerless motion capture technology is helping studios like Gearbox streamline creativity and deliver high-quality animation faster.
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