VisoMaster vs Rope (Pearl, Opal, Rope-Next): Which One to Use

Searching for open-source face swap software often brings up several connected names, including Rope Opal, Rope Pearl, Rope-Bronze, Rope-Next, and VisoMaster. Older video tutorials and forum threads still point to past releases, making it hard to tell which project is active today. Knowing how Hillobar/Rope, Alucard24/Rope, and visomaster/VisoMaster relate will help you pick the right setup.

Rope (Hillobar/Rope) is an open-source project by Hillobar that moved through named versions like Opal and Pearl before reaching its current Rope-Bronze branch. VisoMaster (visomaster/VisoMaster) is a separate open-source application for image and video face swapping that includes a converter script for older Rope embeddings. Meanwhile, this website (visomaster.com) is not the official repository, though it offers paid, pre-packaged Windows builds if you want to skip manual setup.

The Rope family at a glance

Because community forks and older tags share similar names, users often mistake a past version of Rope for a separate program. Some names mark historical releases inside Hillobar's repository, while others belong to independent forks or standalone projects. The table below compares each version based on public GitHub records checked on October 26, 2026.

Project / Version	Maintainer / Repo	Status & Recorded Date	Key Verified Details	Official Source
Rope Opal (Opal, Opal 01, Opal-02, Opal-03a)	Hillobar/Rope	Historical version with an Opal tag README dated February 10, 2024.	It redesigned the interface, allowed FFMPEG or OPENCV recording, and added face auto-padding plus a VRAM monitor in Opal-02.	Hillobar/Rope Opal README, Opal02 Release
Rope Pearl (Pearl-00 / Pearl tag)	Hillobar/Rope	Historical version with a Pearl tag README dated May 27, 2024.	It introduced selectable 128, 256, and 512 model swapping output resolutions and upgraded directly from Opal-03a.	Hillobar/Rope Pearl Release, Pearl README
Rope-Bronze	Hillobar/Rope	Active default branch, last pushed on July 11, 2026.	It serves as the current default branch of the unarchived upstream Rope repository.	Hillobar/Rope Repo, GitHub API
Rope-Next (Next(Stable)-1.1.03)	Alucard24/Rope	Community fork created from Hillobar/Rope.	Maintained by Alucard24, its README highlights version Next(Stable)-1.1.03 and portable build support.	Alucard24/Rope Repo, Rope-Next README
VisoMaster	visomaster/VisoMaster	Latest release v0.1.6 published on March 9, 2025.	This standalone GPL-3.0 tool swaps and edits faces in images and videos and includes a Rope embeddings converter.	visomaster/VisoMaster Repo, v0.1.6 Release
VisoMaster Fusion	VisoMasterFusion/VisoMaster-Fusion	Separate community repository at release v1.0.0.	It builds on original VisoMaster work by argenspin and Alucard24 while adding enhancements from community mods.	VisoMaster-Fusion README, v1.0.0 Release

What changed in Rope Opal, Pearl, and Rope-Bronze

Opal and Pearl are not separate forks built by outside teams. Both are historical named releases published inside the upstream Hillobar/Rope repository. Hillobar used gemstone names in 2024 to mark major updates to the interface and swapping workflow.

The Opal series arrived in early 2024, with its Opal tag README updated on February 10, 2024. In those notes, Hillobar wrote, "This next version focuses on the UI." Opal also let users switch their recording library between FFMPEG and OPENCV. Follow-up updates included Opal 01, Opal-02 (tagged Opal02, adding input face auto-padding for detection and a VRAM monitor), and Opal-03a.

Rope Pearl followed under release title Pearl-00 and tag Pearl, with its README dated May 27, 2024. Existing Opal-03a users could upgrade to Pearl simply by replacing their rope folder. Pearl introduced selectable output resolutions of 128, 256, and 512 for model swapping. That option controls the swapping output resolution inside Rope rather than releasing three separate native InsightFace weight files.

Many guides still search for Rope Pearl today, which makes it look like development ended there. However, public GitHub metadata shows that Hillobar/Rope is not archived. Its current default branch is Rope-Bronze, which was last pushed on July 11, 2026 and displays a Rope-Bronze welcome header.

Rope-Next and how it relates to VisoMaster

Unlike Opal or Pearl, Rope-Next is not an official release tag inside Hillobar/Rope. Instead, Rope-Next lives at Alucard24/Rope, a community repository maintained by Alucard24 and forked from Hillobar/Rope. Its README identifies the build with a Rope-Next welcome heading, version Next(Stable)-1.1.03, and notes for a Rope-Next-Portable package.

VisoMaster (visomaster/VisoMaster) is an independent project hosted in its own repository. Its README states, "VisoMaster is a powerful yet easy-to-use tool for face swapping and editing in images and videos." Rather than acting as a branch of Hillobar's code, it operates as a standalone project.

Public GitHub records show two verifiable links between the Rope family and VisoMaster. First, visomaster/VisoMaster includes tools/convert_old_rope_embeddings.py, a command-line Rope Embeddings Converter script that migrates saved faces from older Rope versions. Second, Alucard24 maintains Alucard24/Rope and is also credited alongside argenspin for original VisoMaster work in the VisoMasterFusion/VisoMaster-Fusion README. Even so, nothing in visomaster/VisoMaster states that Rope-Next was renamed to VisoMaster, so the converter only confirms data compatibility.

You may also see VisoMaster Fusion in search results. Hosted separately at VisoMasterFusion/VisoMaster-Fusion, its v1.0.0 release combines the original VisoMaster features with enhancements from community mods. While Fusion credits argenspin, Alucard24, and community contributors, public sources do not document whether visomaster/VisoMaster designated it as an official branch. On this site, we treat visomaster/VisoMaster as the original open-source project and Fusion as a community continuation whose features and versions can differ.

VisoMaster vs Rope: setup and hardware

The original visomaster/VisoMaster repository is licensed under GPL-3.0, recorded in its LICENSE file as GNU General Public License Version 3 (June 29, 2007). That license covers the code repository itself rather than all external model weights. Its latest GitHub release is v0.1.6, published on March 9, 2025. Earlier, release v0.1.1 added a Windows installer for users with an NVIDIA GPU.

Linux users can also run the original codebase from source. As the visomaster/VisoMaster README notes, "On Linux just run python main.py." Manual installation targets NVIDIA graphics cards with CUDA and cuDNN, and requirements_cu124.txt specifies GPU-enabled ONNX Runtime 1.20.0 and PyTorch 2.4.1 for CUDA 12.4.

Several hardware items are left undocumented upstream. Specifically, the original visomaster/VisoMaster README and releases do not document official macOS support, AMD or Intel GPU instructions, or an official minimum VRAM figure. In the Rope family, users instead set up Hillobar/Rope on the Rope-Bronze branch or the Alucard24/Rope fork.

If you are looking at the packages on this website (visomaster.com), remember that this site is not the official VisoMaster or Rope project. The open-source project is github.com/visomaster/VisoMaster, whereas this site offers paid, one-time-payment Windows builds via Patreon for 64-bit Windows 10 and 11 with NVIDIA GPUs. These packages support up to the RTX 50 series, where the 27.86 GB compressed archive starts with VisoMaster.exe or Run.bat. We recommend at least 6 GB VRAM as our own package guidance rather than an upstream requirement; see our system requirements and RTX 5090 fix guide for details.

Which one should you use?

Public repositories do not publish standardized speed or visual quality benchmarks comparing Rope and VisoMaster. Because of that, your choice comes down to your existing face files and how you prefer to install software.

• You already have saved embeddings from Rope: To keep your existing workflow inside Rope, use Hillobar/Rope (on Rope-Bronze or an older tag like Pearl) or Alucard24/Rope. If you want to move to visomaster/VisoMaster, run tools/convert_old_rope_embeddings.py to convert your old files. See our VisoMaster AI face swap guide for workflow steps.
• You are choosing between original and community repositories: In the upstream Rope repository, Rope-Bronze was updated on July 11, 2026. For VisoMaster, visomaster/VisoMaster offers the original v0.1.6 release from March 9, 2025, while VisoMasterFusion/VisoMaster-Fusion provides a separate v1.0.0 community continuation with mod enhancements. You can also read VisoMaster vs FaceFusion or check VisoMaster updates to compare tools.
• You want a prepared Windows build without manual setup: You can clone visomaster/VisoMaster or Hillobar/Rope from GitHub for free and configure Python and CUDA yourself. If you prefer to skip manual dependency setup on Windows 10 or 11, this site offers a paid, one-time-payment package for NVIDIA GPUs (including the RTX 50 series) on the download page.

FAQ

Is Rope Pearl still updated?

Pearl is an older milestone from May 27, 2024 rather than the current branch of the project. The Hillobar/Rope repository remains active and now uses Rope-Bronze as its default branch, with updates pushed on July 11, 2026.

Can VisoMaster use my old Rope embeddings?

Yes, you can migrate your saved face data without recreating it from scratch. The official visomaster/VisoMaster repository provides tools/convert_old_rope_embeddings.py, a command-line script built to convert legacy Rope embeddings.

Is VisoMaster the same as Rope-Next?

No, they are separate repositories on GitHub. Rope-Next is a fork of Hillobar/Rope maintained at Alucard24/Rope, and while Alucard24 is also credited in the VisoMaster Fusion README for early VisoMaster work, visomaster/VisoMaster does not describe itself as a renamed Rope-Next.

What is VisoMaster Fusion?

VisoMaster Fusion is a community project in a separate repository at VisoMasterFusion/VisoMaster-Fusion that merges the original features with community mod enhancements in release v1.0.0. Public documentation does not confirm it as an official branch of visomaster/VisoMaster, so its features and versions can differ from the original v0.1.6 release.

Sources

• Hillobar/Rope Repository (Rope-Bronze) and GitHub Repo API
• Hillobar/Rope Pearl Release (Pearl-00) and Pearl Tag README
• Hillobar/Rope Opal Tag README, Releases List, and Opal-02 Release
• Alucard24/Rope Repository (Rope-Next) and Rope-Next README
• visomaster/VisoMaster Repository, README, v0.1.1 Release, v0.1.6 Release, requirements_cu124.txt, LICENSE, and convert_old_rope_embeddings.py
• VisoMasterFusion/VisoMaster-Fusion README and v1.0.0 Release