Now compatible with Houdini 22 (Python 3.13) — Houdini 21 remains fully supported.
MotionCOPs is an open-source Houdini Copernicus toolkit created and maintained by Bo-Ning Li. It grows directly from my daily production work in Houdini 21 & 22.
Project page: boningli.com/rnd/motion-cops
Every tool here is one I actually use — tested on real projects at 10K+ resolution and refined through day-to-day use. Not a tech demo: it's the kit I reach for every day.
Inside: organic growth · stylization · dithering & risograph · glitch · Kubelka-Munk color · SOP ↔ image bridges · time & caching utilities
MotionCOPs is built through production. Each piece below was made primarily with tools from the library; all visual work shown is my own. The toolkit and the images evolved together across commissioned installations, large-format screen work, and self-directed studies.
Edge-of-Chaos Fluid — the project cover and a key production study: a reusable Copernicus fluid system developed with MotionCOPs workflows.
23.Springs / Granite Properties — MotionCOPs-driven image processing and procedural distortion for a permanent 8K installation. |
OFFF Barcelona Screen — the fluid system adapted through MotionCOPs for a large-format façade projection. |
Field study / GitHub banner — a panoramic simulation study developed with MotionCOPs field-processing tools.
Fluid-field study — a finished image from the same production-tested Copernicus workflow.
Contour study I — feedback, edge analysis, and repeated line structures generated in MotionCOPs. |
Contour study II — a second parameter state from the same procedural system. |
Supports Houdini 21 & 22. Jump to Installation.
Generate organic spreading patterns — cellular growth, lightning, cracks, veins, and DLA-style structures. Supports directional fields and attractors for precise control. Inspired by Nick Taylor's Aelib, reimagined for COPs.
GPU-based ripple simulation for water surfaces, shockwaves, and reactive wave patterns — driven by mc Ripple Solver directly inside the Copernicus network.
Slope, occlusion, and SDF tools treat images as fields rather than pixels — useful for terrain-style studies, directional lighting, and fractal growth structures.
GPU-accelerated pixel sorting for glitch art, flowing textures, and stylized transitions. Mask by luminance or custom input, with built-in growth animation.
Instant risograph print aesthetic built on Kubelka-Munk color theory — real ink mixing, not RGB filters. Three modes: organic, halftone, or digital.
Growth Propagation · Reactiondiffusion Presets · Copernicus Solver (SOP)
Risograph · Halftone Dither · Ordered Dither · Noise Dither · Dither Mono · Pixel Sorting
Gaussian Slope · Slope Visualize · Angle Quantize · Directional Occlusion · mc SDF Smooth Union
mc Blackhole Distort · mc Ripple · mc Ripple Solver · mc Velocity Anti-Grid
mc Mono to Points · mc Point to Density · mc Point to Shape · mc Point Velocity to Layer · mc Point Advect by Layer
Time Shift · Frame Blend · Cache · mc TOP Image Cache
mc UV Adjust · mc Range Visualize · mc Flow Block Begin / End
RGB to KM · KM to RGB · KM Converter · KM Blend
- Download and extract the repository to any location
- In your Houdini home directory (e.g.
C:/Users/MY_USER/Documents/houdini21.0), create apackagesfolder if it doesn't exist - Copy
MotionCOPs.jsonintopackages/ - Edit the JSON file — set the path to your MotionCOPs directory
See the Houdini docs for more on package files.