⚡ 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
Removed ModelSamplingDiscrete
Not beneficial enough to keep in the workflow.
Removed the “normal” USDU
The “Any Switch” I was using to connect the two USDU groups to the detailer nodes was not behaving as I expected.
When using this USDU node, the non-upscaled version of the image would be sent to the detailer nodes instead.
Instead of defaulting to the 3rd input since the 1st and 2nd were not sending anything, I suspect it was still sending the 2nd. The 2nd input would be the bypassed USDU+Laplace output. The 1st input was from the extra 1 step denoise after USDU+Laplace.
Regarding the USDU group in the workflow
The sampler and scheduler have to be set manually for this node.
Select the sampler by using the KSampler Select node to the left of the USDU node.
There is now a toggle asking if you want to use the Laplace Scheduler or not.
If not, you will need to set the scheduler on the BasicScheduler node to the left of the USDU node.
The extra 1 step denoise part can now be bypassed. This is pretty much only needed if you are using the Laplace Scheduler in USDU.
Lora to String node
I added a note below this node explaining what custom node pack it is from since I have had at least two people reach out about not being able to find it.
Added Frequency Decouple Guidance
This is another model patch and is intended for advanced ComfyUI users. Use at your own discretion!
Layout Adjustment
I rearranged the groups so the ControlNet group will be between the prompt nodes and SampleCustomAdvanced.
Default settings are for what I consider "Simple Mode" using Euler A with the Karras Scheduler. As always, please adjust the settings to your preferences.
Custom Nodes used in the version are from:
As previously mentioned:
The Laplace Scheduler is not recommended for people new to ComfyUI and/or are not comfortable with figuring out settings on your own.
If you do want to try it out, I suggest not messing with the settings on the LaplaceScheduler node other than "steps".
It's very sensitive to what you prompt in both positive and negative prompts, so prompt with caution (or go wild).
The Basic Scheduler node (which is the default) works like the same normal KSampler settings, but some people have ran into random compatibility issues with it before. It's a Comfy Core node, so it has to be something on their installs causing the conflict.
On the Basic Scheduler node: you control the Scheduler, Steps, and Denoise.
SamplerCustomAdvanced is now the only KSampler for the initial image on this workflow
Confirmed it works even with RES4LYF installed
This node is not affected by the Global Sampler node, so the sampler and scheduler have to bet set manually here.
The CFG setting is also separate here since I tend to use sa_solver with Laplace but other combos for the rest of the workflow.
The Global Seed and Global Sampler nodes will override any of the settings related to them across the workflow.
Using a sampler or scheduler not compatible with any of the nodes will result in an error.
You can bypass or delete these two nodes if you want to do these settings manually on each node.
Does not affect the sampler or scheduler settings connected to SamplerCustomAdvanced (if it is in the workflow).
After the most recent update, sometimes even after setting the seed to fixed, it doesn't always pick up where you left off. This may be due to comfy unloading something. Just a guess.
CFG is tied to the “CFG” node to the left of the KSampler.
Delete this node if you want to set CFG manually on each node.
The detailers can be used for whatever you want as long as you have the detection models.
The detailer nodes used in this workflow take all detected items and do them at the same time.
You can use whatever detection model you want. You don't have to use what I use.
If you are seeing busted results in the detailers try adding something to the wildcard spec field to help guide the detailer.
Example: only one eye is detected and the detailer is turning into nightmare fuel
set the Global Seed to Fixed
try adding "eye" (without quotes) to the wildcard spec field
click Run
If you’re using the Nodes 2.0 feature: you are on your own.