Getting Started: Chunks, Prompts & Reference Images

Quick Start — A different prompt for each chunk

Write all chunk instructions in Sequence Prompt before the first run. For the examples below, set Chunks = 2 and Seconds per Chunk = 5. Choose one of the three formats.

The REF2VA fields below follow a community template shared by hatt2. Fill in the fields you need. Put each chunk’s action in its own section.

1. Chunk numbers — `Prompt Format = Timeline`

Put each [Chunk N] header on its own line. Text above the first header is shared across all chunks.

Template

subject_definitions:
summary:
retention_analysis: [reference generation]
detailed_description:
overall_soundscape:
non_diegetic_music:

[Chunk 1]
Describe the first action here.

[Chunk 2]
Describe what happens next here.

Example

subject_definitions: The woman in the reference image.
retention_analysis: [reference generation] Keep her face and red coat.
overall_soundscape: Soft wind and flowing water.

[Chunk 1]
She walks to the railing and rests her hand on it.

[Chunk 2]
With her hand still on the railing, she turns to look at the river.

2. Time ranges — `Prompt Format = Timeline`

Use time ranges that match the chunk duration set in the Sampler. With two 5-second chunks, use [0-5s] and [5-10s].

Template

subject_definitions:
summary:
retention_analysis: [reference generation]
detailed_description:
overall_soundscape:
non_diegetic_music:

[0-5s]
Describe the first action here.

[5-10s]
Describe what happens next here.

Example

subject_definitions: The woman in the reference image.
retention_analysis: [reference generation] Keep her face and red coat.
overall_soundscape: Soft wind and flowing water.

[0-5s]
She walks to the railing and rests her hand on it.

[5-10s]
With her hand still on the railing, she turns to look at the river.

3. Separate prompt blocks — `Prompt Format = List`

Put --- on its own line between prompts. The first block goes to Chunk 1 and the second goes to Chunk 2. Repeat any shared details you want in both blocks.

Template

subject_definitions:
summary:
retention_analysis: [reference generation]
detailed_description: Describe the first action here.
overall_soundscape:
non_diegetic_music:

---

subject_definitions:
summary:
retention_analysis: [reference generation]
detailed_description: Describe what happens next here.
overall_soundscape:
non_diegetic_music:

Example

subject_definitions: The woman in the reference image.
retention_analysis: [reference generation] Keep her face and red coat.
detailed_description: She walks to the railing and rests her hand on it.
overall_soundscape: Soft wind and flowing water.

---

subject_definitions: The woman in the reference image.
retention_analysis: [reference generation] Keep her face and red coat.
detailed_description: With her hand still on the railing, she turns to look at the river.
overall_soundscape: Soft wind and flowing water.

For a first run, choose the format explicitly. To check Chunk 1 before generating Chunk 2, use Review Each Chunk and keep the same Sequence Prompt when you continue.

What’s New — H3 Continuum v3.10.2

Added an H3 Pika LoRA workflow with Manual Sigmas and 6-step sampling. In my tests, it offers fast generation while maintaining good visual quality, with particularly pleasing audio results. The version number remains unchanged—this update adds a workflow

Introduced in v3.10.0, Project / Take Manager lets you organize Runs into named Projects, label favorite Takes as savepoints, and try another continuation—or start an independent trial while keeping earlier results. v3.10.2 also protects finalized Takes when continuation fails.

The panel is optional and defaults OFF. Your existing workflows work as they are—no extra nodes or rewiring required. Existing Takes are preserved.

📖 Guide with screenshots

H3 Continuum v3.9.8

Improves Chunk 1→2 continuation with supported KJ Preview Override builds. GPU-tested with PyTorch and Comfy Kitchen INT8 + audited local Spectrum.

Scope: audited KJ/Core builds only; Preview VAE/Audio VAE disconnected; Tiny VAE none.

Restart after updating and use a new Run. Existing Takes and workflows are preserved.

Download v3.9.8

v3.9.7 fixes an issue where ComfyUI’s cache could skip regeneration when Chunks or Variation Nonce were connected to external nodes.

GPU testing on the published version confirmed that regenerating Chunk 2 twice with identical settings advanced Variation from 1 to 2 while preserving Chunk 1. Existing Takes and workflows remained unchanged, with no execution errors observed.

Update the custom nodes, restart ComfyUI, and refresh your browser. No workflow changes are required.

3.9.3 — choose temporary storage (2026-10-13)

Choose where Continuum writes its temporary decoded frames and Finalize buffer. Open Settings → H3Continuum → Storage → Manage temporary storage. Enter an absolute folder on the ComfyUI server, or choose a server storage candidate, then validate and save. Leave it blank to keep the existing locations. No workflow changes are required; continue using the V3.9 nodes and your 3.9.1 / 3.9.2 workflows

v3.9.2 is now available!

This minor UI hotfix reduces unnecessary Review checks, duplicate Reference Images notifications, and redundant node resizing.

Update only the custom node package and refresh your browser. All v3.9.1 workflows can be used unchanged.

3.9.1 — what changed (2026-10-04)

This patch fixes Second Pass conditioning, Take reuse and Review audio:

Second Pass: preserve audio-only/mixed keyframes and inherit the verified conditioning and Reference assignments of the actual Review output, including a single middle chunk.
Take reuse: include sampler closures and MODEL CFG/wrappers in compatibility checks to prevent reuse under different generation settings.
Review Driving Audio: cut the source PCM once at the physical group's natural time, with the same start position for Exact ON/OFF.
Audio resampling: prefer ComfyUI Core's standard API, with the legacy fallback for older Core versions. The Reference Encode Cache limitation for direct VAE weight changes is documented below.

V3.9 Performance Fix — October 1, 2026

Reduced unnecessary preparation time when using Fixed prompts without Reference Images. First Image is still supported. In matched tests, the earlier slowdown compared with V3.8 was no longer observed under these conditions.

Update Continuum from GitHub main, then fully restart ComfyUI. No workflow changes are required for this fix.

What’s New in V3.9

V3.9 introduces per-chunk Reference Images.

Reference Images 1–9 now keep fixed IDs @R1@R9), and the new Reference Images V3.9 node lets you choose which images are active for each chunk. All references are connected to the V3.9 Sampler through one Reference Images input.

For the supplied 2 × 10 s workflow, put each time header on its own line and describe only that chunk's action. For example, after enabling the matching image loaders and checking their chunk assignments:

[0-10s]
@R1 walks forward through a quiet hallway. The camera follows smoothly.

[10-20s]
@R2 enters from the right. The camera turns to follow @R2.

### V3.8X2 Compatibility

V3.8X2 is still supported as-is.

You can drag & drop your existing V3.8X2 workflow and continue using it normally with the V3.8 Sampler.

The new V3.9 Reference system uses different wiring and is not automatically applied to old workflows. To use V3.9 features, either load the included V3.9 workflow or build/rewire your own workflow with the V3.9 Sampler and Reference Images V3.9 node.

https://github.com/ukr8b3g-cmyk/ComfyUI-H3-Continuum/tree/main#v39-reference-images

What’s New in V3.8X2

V3.8X2 is a small update to V3.8X. The existing sampler, Review, Resume, Retry, Takes, and continuation behavior are unchanged.

Up to 9 Reference Images
Reference Images 4–9 can now be added through the new Reference Images helper. Using many or large reference images can use substantial VRAM and system RAM, so resizing source images first is recommended.
Built-in Decode Cache Helper
A Decode Cache Helper node is included for repeated decoding of unchanged latents. It can help with reuse and resume cases, but it does not speed up new Sampling and may not be useful for normal fresh generations.

Use the included V3.8X2 workflow.

https://github.com/ukr8b3g-cmyk/ComfyUI-H3-Continuum

What’s New in V3.8X

V3.8X is the new main line of H3 Continuum, focused on more reliable Review, Resume, Retry, and Continue workflows.

Current-chunk Review preview
Validated prefix reuse
Atomic crash-safe chunk saving
Reliable Resume, Retry, and Takes
No unnecessary regeneration of accepted chunks
Same 7 public nodes and sampler interface

Use the included V3.8X workflow.
V3.8.0 remains available for existing setups.

For a new Git installation:

cd ComfyUI/custom_nodes
git clone https://github.com/ukr8b3g-cmyk/ComfyUI-H3-Continuum.git

For an existing Git checkout:

cd ComfyUI/custom_nodes/ComfyUI-H3-Continuum
git pull --ff-only origin main

Restart ComfyUI after cloning or pulling. If ComfyUI Manager installed the node, use its Update action instead of

What’s New in V3.8

Please refer to the GitHub repository for usage instructions.

https://github.com/ukr8b3g-cmyk/ComfyUI-H3-Continuum

V3.8 focuses on workflow control, recovery, and ease of use. It does not introduce a new image-quality enhancement; equivalent settings continue to use the established V3.7 Production sampling foundation.

Review Each Chunk — inspect each generated chunk before continuing.
Keep, Retry, or Finish — use the current chunk, generate it again, or finish all remaining chunks.
Resume & Takes — reopen saved progress and choose from previous Takes.
Partial Regeneration — regenerate from a selected chunk without rebuilding the accepted beginning.
Simplified Size Controls — choose First Image sizing or exact Manual dimensions.
Built-in Input Bypass — quickly enable or disable Image, Audio, and Video inputs.
Three Reference Audios — use up to three ordered audio references.
Simplified Public Surface — seven supported V3.8 Continuum nodes.
Spectrum / Turbo Workflow — the supplied Spectrum graph can also be configured for LightX2V Turbo.

Known limitation: Issue #13 remains open. V3.8 does not claim to improve or solve cumulative image-quality drift during long continuation.

What’s New in V3.7

V3.7 focuses on faster, more reliable high-resolution Second Pass refinement. The new Conditioning Adapter rebuilds First/Last images and continuation context at the target resolution, while RefineSchedule provides exact Full, Tail, Partial, and External refinement ranges.

Using Tail 6 instead of Tail 10 reduced Second Pass sampling from 100.27s to 64.18s in our reference test—about 36% faster—while preserving the original first-pass audio bit-exact.

Production defaults remain unchanged, and existing V3.6 workflows remain compatible. The new Still Image Guide is included as an Experimental feature because hard anchors may cause abrupt trajectory changes.

What’s New in V3.6.1

https://github.com/ukr8b3g-cmyk/ComfyUI-H3-Continuum

V3.6 introduces a new Masked AV Continuation backend for faster and cleaner long-form generation.

Instead of adding the previous chunk again as a separate Reference block, V3.6 keeps the finalized Video/Audio latent prefix directly inside the next target and samples only the new region.

Masked AV Continuation — new Standard backend
Less Attention overhead — FL2VA test reduced packed rows by 8.01%
Faster continuation Sampling — median Terminal Group sampling improved by 4.06%
Bit-exact Video + Audio prefix preservation
T2VA / I2VA / FL2VA supported
Reference Image + Reference Audio supported
Long Terminal Merge fully supported
Run Storage / Resume / Regenerate From supported
Compatibility mode keeps the previous V3.5 Reference Context backend
Chunk duration expanded to 4–30 seconds — 5–15 seconds remains recommended

V3.6.1 Hotfix

Improved mixed Timeline / --- prompt syntax handling and warnings
Prevents unintended repeated chunk prompts
Non-Balanced Audio Continuity settings safely fall back to the compatible Reference Context path instead of stopping generation

Same sampling quality, less redundant continuation work, and full compatibility with existing V3.5 workflows.

H3 Continuum V3.5.2 — Stabilization & Optimization Update

V3.5.2 focuses on stability, efficiency, and cleanup rather than adding major new features. Repeated runs with the same Prompt/CLIP conditions now avoid unnecessary re-encoding, and Video Guide preprocessing uses substantially less temporary RAM on longer inputs.

Existing V3.5.x workflows and generation contracts remain unchanged. Sampling, Terminal Merge, Run Storage, Reference handling, and output behavior were preserved while the updated paths were validated with CPU and GPU A/B testing.

V3.5.2 is an internal stabilization and optimization update. Existing V3.5.1 workflows can be used as-is, with no changes required to nodes, connections, or workflow structure.

> v3.5.1 Update

This update improves the Second Pass workflow, reference handling, and seed behavior. It adds the new Conditioning Bridge V3.5 for external sampling workflows, optional Reference Audio conditioning.

Video reference inputs are also clarified as Video Guide Frames / Video Guide Size, while existing V3.4/V3.5 workflows and backend connections remain compatible.

Updating to V3.5 does not automatically replace V3.4 nodes in saved workflows. When updating an older workflow, replace not only the Sampler but also the assembler with H3 Continuum Assemble + Seam V3.5. Add H3 Continuum Hi-Res Fix V3.5 when Hi-Res Fix is required.

GitHub:
https://github.com/ukr8b3g-cmyk/ComfyUI-H3-Continuum

[ V3.5 ]

V3.5 introduces two major additions:

- Continuum-aware Second Pass / Hi-Res Fix

Refine externally processed H3 latents while preserving Continuum physical groups, prompts, seeds, ordering, and first-pass audio. An integrated one-node 2x Hi-Res Fix path is also included as an experimental feature.

- Low-memory Assemble + Seam V3.5

Adds Auto, RAM, and Disk-backed video-buffer modes. Disk-backed assembly significantly reduces system RAM/private-memory usage for long or high-resolution outputs while preserving Exact Duration, Seam, Terminal Merge, and audio behavior.

All V3.4 nodes remain available for saved-workflow compatibility. Existing V3.4 workflows continue to work unchanged.

The V3.5 release passed 430 automated tests and representative GPU acceptance tests.

Note: The integrated Hi-Res Fix remains experimental. Long 2x workflows can require substantial GPU VRAM.

#5 3 chunks x 15 seconds

#6 6 chunks x 15 seconds

W576xH576

[ v3.4 ]

Long-form MiniMax H3 video and audio generation for ComfyUI with chunked generation, persistent references, restartable runs, and user-controlled audio.

### What's new in v3.4

- Driving Audio: preserves the supplied audio as the final audio while guiding generation across chunks.

- Video Reference: provides persistent visual reference for identity, motion, framing, and scene appearance.

- Restartable chunks: reuse completed chunks with Run Storage and regenerate only the required part.

- Improved Core compatibility: unknown upstream or custom nodes are not rejected merely because they are not recognized by Continuum.

- Simpler stable interface: obsolete compatibility controls and experimental Timeline inputs are hidden from the V3.4 public workflow.

- Spectrum interoperability: Spectrum remains optional and can use the official H3 Continuum Interop API.

### Direction change from v3.3

V3.4 focuses on predictable reference workflows rather than experimental Timeline Video and timeline-audio generation.

Driving Audio preserves the original user-supplied audio. Video Reference provides persistent visual guidance without requiring exact frame-by-frame copying. Existing V3.3 workflows remain available through legacy compatibility paths.

### Updating

For an existing Git installation:

git pull --ff-only origin main

V3.4 input connection patterns

V3.4 separates the visual reference input from the driving-audio input. Choose the connection pattern that matches your source material.

1. Audio only

Connect Load Audio to driving_audio. Use this when an existing song, dialogue track, or sound effect should remain the final audio. A Video Reference is not required.

2. Video with its own audio

Connect Load Video (Upload) IMAGE to Video Reference. If the uploaded video contains the audio you want to preserve, connect its AUDIO output to driving_audio as well.

3. Video and audio from separate sources

Connect Load Video (Upload) IMAGE to Video Reference, then connect a separate Load Audio node to driving_audio. Use this when the visual reference video and the final audio source are different files.

Both inputs are optional. Connect Video Reference when visual guidance is needed, and connect driving_audio when the supplied audio should be preserved in the final output.

Video Reference frame rate

Use a 24 fps source for Video Reference. Load Video (Upload) may accept files recorded at 25 fps or another frame rate, but acceptance alone does not guarantee correct temporal alignment with H3. For a non-24 fps source, set force_rate to 24 in Load Video (Upload), or convert the file to 24 fps before loading it. If the source is already 24 fps, leave force_rate at its default and do not resample it.

Current validation status

[ v3.3 ]

V3.3 adds Timeline Video conditioning for long-form MiniMax H3 generation. A reference video can now be processed in chunk-local time slices, allowing motion and scene continuity to be carried across multiple 5-second chunks while keeping the reference resolution independent from the output resolution. The Efficient 0.4 MP mode helps reduce memory usage and processing time.

Video assembly has also been improved. Auto seam handling analyzes chunk boundaries and applies guarded corrections for transient flicker, micro-flash, exposure, and color differences. This helps produce more natural transitions between generated chunks without changing the original sampling process.

Existing V3.2.4 workflows remain available as Legacy nodes for compatibility.

[ v3.24 ]

Generate longer native MiniMax H3 video and audio sequences in ComfyUI.

H3 Continuum is a ComfyUI custom node that generates a longer sequence as connected chunks and assembles them into one continuous video.

```text
3 × 5-second chunks → 15-second video
6 × 5-second chunks → 30-second video

The previous video and audio latent context is passed into each continuation chunk. This is not a simple video concatenation workflow.

Main purpose: longer MiniMax H3 generation, not faster generation.

Easy Installation

H3 Continuum can be installed directly from ComfyUI Manager.

Open ComfyUI Manager
Search for H3 Continuum or Continuum
Select Install
Restart ComfyUI
Load one of the included sample workflows

Manual installation and the latest documentation are available on GitHub:

GitHub:
https://github.com/ukr8b3g-cmyk/ComfyUI-H3-Continuum

What It Does

H3 Continuum divides a longer generation into manageable chunks.

MiniMax H3 Model
↓
H3 Continuum Sampler
↓
ComfyUI Core Video / Audio VAE Decode
↓
H3 Continuum Assemble
↓
Final video

Each continuation chunk receives latent context from the preceding chunk. Overlapping context is removed during assembly, and the final frame and audio counts are aligned to the requested duration.

Main Features

Connected long-form MiniMax H3 generation
Native video and audio latent continuation
Fixed, List, and Timeline prompt formats
Automatic prompt-format detection
T2VA, I2VA, FL2VA, Last Frame and Reference workflows
Up to three Reference Images
Reference Audio conditioning
First Frame and Last Frame conditioning
Configurable continuity context
Run Storage and automatic resume
Partial regeneration from a selected chunk
Optional Spectrum interoperability
Standard and Turbo sample workflows
ComfyUI Core VAE Decode compatibility

Included Sample Workflows

Two example workflows are provided.

Standard Workflow

Recommended when output quality and temporal consistency are the priority.

Standard MiniMax H3 sampling
Spectrum can be enabled
Suitable for quality-focused generation
Reference Image and Reference Audio supported
RTX upscaling can be enabled when required

Turbo Workflow

Recommended for faster tests and iteration.

LightX2V MiniMax H3 Turbo LoRA
8-step example configuration
Spectrum is bypassed by default
Faster than the standard workflow in tested configurations
Some loss of facial detail or additional artifacts may occur

Turbo LoRA models:

https://huggingface.co/lightx2v/Minimax-h3-Turbo/tree/main

MiniMax H3 models and documentation:

https://huggingface.co/MiniMaxAI/MiniMax-H3

Models and LoRAs are not included with this custom node.

Reference + Continuation

Reference Images remain available across all generated chunks.

A typical setup is:

Picture 1 → face and identity
Picture 2 → full-body appearance and clothing
Picture 3 → environment or an additional visual reference
Audio 1   → vocal, music or audio-performance reference

Ref2VA is the reference-specialized checkpoint and is generally the first choice for stronger reference fidelity.

FL2VA with Reference conditioning is also allowed. H3 Continuum does not automatically replace or switch the connected model.

Spectrum Integration

Spectrum is optional. H3 Continuum also works without it.

With a compatible Spectrum release, H3 Continuum sends a continuation signal only when generating later chunks.

Chunk 1 → normal Spectrum sampling
Chunk 2+ → Continuum Actual Prefix 2

This allows Spectrum to coordinate its spectral forecasting with the continuation context instead of treating every chunk as an unrelated generation.

Benefits include:

Automatic identification of continuation chunks
Actual Prefix applied only where required
No manual prefix switching between chunks
Reduced risk of duplicated prefix processing
Compatibility with standard ComfyUI workflow execution

Spectrum remains an approximate accelerator. Motion, anatomy, audio and detail can differ from a non-Spectrum result, so quality comparisons should use the same prompt and seed.

Spectrum:

https://github.com/xmarre/ComfyUI-Spectrum-MiniMax-H3

Run Storage and Resume

Enable Save + Auto Resume to preserve completed raw video and audio chunks.

If a generation is interrupted, H3 Continuum can reuse compatible saved chunks and continue from the first missing chunk.

It can also regenerate from a selected chunk while preserving the compatible prefix.

Chunk 1–3 completed
↓
Generation interrupted
↓
Queue the workflow again
↓
Chunks 1–3 reused
↓
Generation continues from Chunk 4

Run Storage verifies the sampling contract, model route, references, resolution and saved chunk files before reuse.

Prompt Formats

Fixed

One prompt is used for every chunk.

List

Separate prompts are divided with:

---

Timeline

[0-5s]
First scene description

[5-10s]
Second scene description

[10-15s]
Third scene description

Prompt Format = Auto detects the appropriate format automatically.

Incomplete timeline coverage produces diagnostics and safe fallback behavior rather than unnecessarily stopping every generation. Structurally unusable input is still reported as an error.

Tested Configuration

The current Windows implementation has been tested with:

GPU                 NVIDIA RTX 5060 Ti 16GB
ComfyUI             MiniMax H3-compatible Core build
Chunk Duration      5 seconds
Typical Length      3 or 6 chunks
Continuity          Balanced 22 frames
Standard Sampling   RES Multistep
Spectrum Interop    Actual Prefix 2

The node is not limited to RTX 50-series GPUs. Actual compatibility, generation speed and usable resolution depend on the MiniMax H3 model, GPU memory, ComfyUI configuration and installed acceleration nodes.