⚡ Illustrious Workflow as of version 18

🛠️ Purpose & Design Philosophy

This workflow is a high-fidelity environment built for Illustrious XL. It prioritizes stability and professional texture over generation speed. It follows an "all-in-one" philosophy: configure your prompts, hit queue, and let the workflow handle the multi-stage refinement from start to finish.

Not for Speed: This is a heavy-duty refinement tool. If you want 2-second previews, use a basic SDXL workflow.
Personal Use: Built for my specific production needs. It is shared as-is for those who want a "set-and-forget" pipeline for Illustrious.
All-in-One Logic: The workflow handles generation, detailing, and upscaling in one continuous pass.

🚀 Key Features & 2026 Logic

Global Model Patching (RescaleCFG): Includes a pre-configured RescaleCFG patch (Multiplier: 0.7) applied globally. This acts as "HDR Insurance," preventing the "deep-fried" or over-saturated look common in high-CFG Illustrious runs.
Detail Daemon Sampler: Integrated to enhance structural depth. In this version, it is tuned to start at 0.4 to preserve the core Illustrious character proportions while sharpening hair and eye details.
Hybrid Upscale Strategy: * Group Bypass Switch: Easily toggle between a Pixel-only (Lanczos) path for flat anime styles and an Upscale-Model path for 2.5D/highly detailed renders.
- Ultimate SD Upscale: Re-draws the upscaled canvas at a 0.35 denoise to lock in fine textures.
Power LoRA Loader: Manage multiple Illustrious-specific LoRAs without messy wiring.
Triple Detailer Groups: 3-stage targeted refinement for faces, hands, and clothing using standard detection models.
CivitAI Meta-Sync: Images are saved with full metadata (Model, LoRAs, Sampler info) for automatic site parsing.

⚠️ Disclaimer & Compatibility

Install at Your Own Risk: Custom nodes can break your environment. I am not responsible for troubleshooting your specific installation.
ComfyUI Portable: Built and tested on the Portable version. Desktop app users may face additional hurdles.
The "Your Version" Factor: Your node versions and environment are 99.9% likely to differ from mine.
Nodes 2.0: I do not recommend using Nodes 2.0. It creates unpredictable UI behavior; I will not provide support for issues involving this feature.

🤝 Support & Boundaries

No DMs: DMs are disabled due to repeat spam. Please check the Discussions tab below; most questions have already been answered.
Modifications: You are free to hack this workflow apart. However, you are responsible for fixing it if it breaks.
Custom Requests: I do not make private workflows. If you need a custom solution, post a Bounty on CivitAI. There are many talented creators ready to help you for a fee.

Description

v7c changes:

Added Sampler/Scheduler Settings (JPS) node to handle sampler/scheduler selection in one place.

Why? I am lazy and don't want to have to change this in multiple places.
If this ends up causing you issues, then v7b2 is probably the better option for you.

Added Fast Groups Bypasser (rgthree) to the left side of the workflow.

Bypass stuff at your own discretion.

Changed 2nd KSampler to allow Hi-Res fix-like function (again).

You can upscale on this KSampler if you like by changing the "Upscale by" setting to anything above 1. Just keep in mind that the USDU nodes are going to upscale on top of that if you do not bypass them.

All of the Steps from the 1st USDU node to everything after are set on a single node.

You can remove the connecting noodles from the inputs of each "Step" node if you want.

Removed one ImpactWildcardEncoder node.

Seemed pointless for negative prompt. I doubt people are loading loras and wildcards in their negative prompt, but I could be wrong.

CFG++Sampler Select is toggled off by default. You can toggle it on by using the Boolean Switch directly above the node. Toggling it off will switch over to using the Sampler Selector (Image Saver) node.