With FMX 2017 opening its doors May 2 in Stuttgart, Germany, we’re focusing our attention on some of the talented artists who were at FMX 2016, a group of top industry professionals who converge on the event each year to speak, teach and network. Watch and enjoy one of the insightful and entertaining interviews from the AWN – FMX 2016 Professional Spotlight series featuring exclusive video interviews with some of the biggest names in animation, visual effects, computer graphics and transmedia.

Watch all the AWN - FMX Professional Spotlight videos on AWN's YouTube Channel.

In this interview, Brian Karis, a senior graphics programmer at Epic Games, discusses the challenges of optimizing real-time game engine performance, how technology is used to create increasingly photorealistic virtual characters and creatures and how game delivery pressures impact the development process.