https://boningli.com/blog Short writing on tools, methods, and the practice. en-us Fri, 21 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT https://boningli.com/blog/the-apparent-size-of-light https://boningli.com/blog/the-apparent-size-of-light Fri, 21 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT A field note from Astral Twin on treating LED emitters as design units—and using brightness, pixel structure, and viewing distance as part of the image. led perception touchdesigner glsl display-design https://boningli.com/blog/recovering-maya-2-mb-without-maya https://boningli.com/blog/recovering-maya-2-mb-without-maya Tue, 18 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT The few clues that made it possible to recover polygon meshes from a 2000-era Alias Maya Binary file without installing Maya. maya maya-binary reverse-engineering 3d file-formats digital-preservation https://boningli.com/blog/approximating-nothing https://boningli.com/blog/approximating-nothing Wed, 01 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Why the most interesting simulations are faithful to nothing — a case against accuracy-chasing, from Turing patterns to cellular automata to the edge of chaos. simulation cellular-automata emergence complexity essay https://boningli.com/blog/houdini-embed-vex-headers-in-hda https://boningli.com/blog/houdini-embed-vex-headers-in-hda Tue, 05 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT VEX `#include` cannot resolve `opdef:` URIs, so headers cannot be referenced directly from inside an HDA. Here is the workaround that does work: extract the embedded section on install and add the directory to HOUDINI_VEX_PATH. houdini vex hda pipeline https://boningli.com/blog/touchdesigner-agent https://boningli.com/blog/touchdesigner-agent Fri, 20 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT A tiny TCP bridge that lets AI coding agents control TouchDesigner — write GLSL shaders, check compile errors, and iterate autonomously. touchdesigner ai glsl python automation https://boningli.com/blog/uf850-ai-robotic-arm https://boningli.com/blog/uf850-ai-robotic-arm Fri, 20 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT A personal sprint into making a 6-axis industrial robot arm respond to people — using nothing but a webcam, Gemini VLM, MediaPipe, and a lot of AI-assisted coding. robotics ai mediapipe gemini python new-media https://boningli.com/blog/houdini-agent-design-philosophy https://boningli.com/blog/houdini-agent-design-philosophy Mon, 09 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT The design philosophy behind houdini-agent — why a general-purpose interface to Houdini matters more than pre-built workflows, and how I'm thinking about AI-assisted DCC work. houdini ai python automation pipeline https://boningli.com/blog/risograph-in-cops https://boningli.com/blog/risograph-in-cops Mon, 09 Mar 2026 12:00:00 GMT Rebuilding Risograph printing from scratch in Houdini Copernicus — ink decomposition, KM color science, dithering, and the art-vs-physics balancing act. houdini cops opencl color-science risograph https://boningli.com/blog/cops-gpu-particle https://boningli.com/blog/cops-gpu-particle Wed, 22 Oct 2025 12:00:00 GMT Simple example showing how to advect particles on the GPU using OpenCL kernels in Houdini Copernicus. houdini cops opencl particles simulation gpu https://boningli.com/blog/color-management-standards https://boningli.com/blog/color-management-standards Wed, 08 Oct 2025 12:00:00 GMT Standardized Linear Rec.709/sRGB color management protocols across Houdini, After Effects, Nuke, and TouchDesigner for consistent pipeline output. houdini pipeline color-management nuke after-effects https://boningli.com/blog/cops-blackhole-distort https://boningli.com/blog/cops-blackhole-distort Wed, 08 Oct 2025 12:00:00 GMT UV distortion based on SDF gradients for gravitational lensing effects in Houdini Copernicus. houdini cops opencl vfx https://boningli.com/blog/cops-simple-ripple-solver https://boningli.com/blog/cops-simple-ripple-solver Wed, 08 Oct 2025 12:00:00 GMT A lightweight water ripple simulation using the 2D wave equation, implemented as a Houdini COPs OpenCL kernel. houdini cops opencl simulation vfx https://boningli.com/blog/houdini-linux-render-farm-setup https://boningli.com/blog/houdini-linux-render-farm-setup Tue, 07 Oct 2025 12:00:00 GMT A practical guide for setting up and managing a Linux-based render farm with Houdini, including NAS mounting, HQueue configuration, and Deadline troubleshooting. houdini linux pipeline render-farm