ComfyUI Reference-Based Video Colorization

A comprehensive ComfyUI implementation featuring two state-of-the-art reference-based video colorization methods:

• 🎨 ColorMNet (2024) - Modern memory-based approach with DINOv2 features
• 🎬 Deep Exemplar (2019) - Classic CVPR method with temporal propagation

Transform black & white videos and images into vibrant color using reference images!

🎬 Demo

See ColorMNet in action colorizing classic black & white footage:

Example: Colorized using ColorMNet with color matching post-processing. The model successfully transfers colors from a reference image while maintaining temporal consistency.

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✨ Features

ColorMNet Nodes (New)

• ColorMNet Video Colorization - Memory-based temporal coherent colorization
• ColorMNet Image Colorization - Single image colorization
• DINOv2-based feature extraction for superior quality
• Multiple memory modes (balanced, low memory, high quality)
• FP16 support for faster processing
• torch.compile optimization for 15-25% speedup (PyTorch 2.0+)
• Performance reports with timing and FPS metrics

Deep Exemplar Nodes (Original)

• Deep Exemplar Video Colorization - Frame propagation for temporal consistency
• Deep Exemplar Image Colorization - Classic exemplar-based method
• WLS (Weighted Least Squares) filtering for smoother results
• Configurable lambda and sigma parameters
• torch.compile optimization for 15-25% speedup (PyTorch 2.0+)
• SageAttention for 20-30% faster attention operations
• Performance reports for benchmarking

Common Features

• ✅ Automatic model download - No manual setup required!
• ✅ Progress bars - Real-time processing feedback in ComfyUI
• ✅ Performance metrics - Compare speed and quality between methods
• ✅ Flexible resolution - Process at any resolution
• ✅ ComfyUI native - Fully integrated workflow support

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📦 Installation

Method 1: ComfyUI Manager (Recommended)

1. Install ComfyUI Manager
2. Open ComfyUI → Manager → Install Custom Nodes
3. Search for "Deep Exemplar Video Colorization"
4. Click Install
5. Restart ComfyUI

Models will download automatically on first use (~700MB total).

Method 2: Manual Installation

cd ComfyUI/custom_nodes/
git clone https://github.com/jonstreeter/ComfyUI-Reference-Based-Video-Colorization.git
cd ComfyUI-Reference-Based-Video-Colorization/
pip install -r requirements.txt

Restart ComfyUI. Models download automatically on first use.

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🚀 Quick Start

Example Workflow

Load the example workflow from workflows/Colorize_Video_Workflow.json:

1. Load Video - Use VHS Video Loader to load your grayscale video
2. Load Reference - Load a color reference image
3. Choose Method - Try both ColorMNet and Deep Exemplar
4. Compare Results - Use the performance reports to benchmark
5. Save Output - Export colorized video with VHS Video Combine

Nodes Overview

ColorMNet Nodes

ColorMNet Video (ColorMNet/Video)

• video_frames - Input grayscale video frames
• reference_image - Color reference image
• target_width/height - Output resolution
• memory_mode - balanced | low_memory | high_quality
• use_fp16 - Enable FP16 for speed (default: True)
• use_torch_compile - Enable PyTorch 2.0+ compilation (default: False)
• Outputs: colorized_frames, performance_report

ColorMNet Image (ColorMNet/Image)

• image - Input grayscale image
• reference_image - Color reference image
• target_width/height - Output resolution
• use_fp16 - Enable FP16 (default: True)
• use_torch_compile - Enable PyTorch 2.0+ compilation (default: False)
• Outputs: colorized_image, performance_report

Deep Exemplar Nodes

Deep Exemplar Video (DeepExemplar/Video)

• video_frames - Input grayscale video frames
• reference_image - Color reference image
• target_width/height - Output resolution
• frame_propagate - Use temporal consistency (default: True)
• use_half_resolution - Process at half resolution (default: True)
• use_torch_compile - Enable PyTorch 2.0+ compilation (default: False)
• use_sage_attention - Enable SageAttention optimization (default: False)
• Outputs: colorized_frames, performance_report

Deep Exemplar Image (DeepExemplar/Image)

• image_to_colorize - Input grayscale image
• reference_image - Color reference image
• target_width/height - Output resolution
• use_torch_compile - Enable PyTorch 2.0+ compilation (default: False)
• use_sage_attention - Enable SageAttention optimization (default: False)
• Outputs: colorized_image, performance_report

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📊 Performance Reports

All nodes output optional performance reports with timing metrics:

Example ColorMNet Video Report

ColorMNet Video Colorization Report
==================================================
Frames Processed: 240
Resolution: 768x432
Total Time: 45.23 seconds
Average FPS: 5.31
Time per Frame: 0.188 seconds
Memory Mode: balanced
FP16 Enabled: True
Torch Compile: False
==================================================

Example Deep Exemplar Video Report

Deep Exemplar Video Colorization Report
==================================================
Frames Processed: 240
Resolution: 768x432
Total Time: 52.34 seconds
Average FPS: 4.59
Time per Frame: 0.218 seconds
Frame Propagation: Enabled
Half Resolution: Enabled
WLS Filter: Enabled
Lambda: 500.0
Sigma Color: 4.0
Torch Compile: False
SageAttention: False
==================================================

Connect the performance_report output to a text display node or save to file for benchmarking!

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💡 Tips & Best Practices

Reference Image Selection

• Choose references semantically similar to your content
• Match the color palette you want to achieve
• Higher quality references = better results
• Try multiple references to find the best match

Resolution Settings

• ColorMNet: Processes at full target resolution
• Deep Exemplar: Internally uses half resolution by default
• Start with 768x432 for good speed/quality balance
• Increase for final high-quality renders

Memory Management

ColorMNet Memory Modes:

• balanced - Good quality, moderate memory (recommended)
• low_memory - Reduced memory usage, slight quality trade-off
• high_quality - Best quality, higher memory requirements

Deep Exemplar:

• Enable use_half_resolution to reduce memory
• Disable frame_propagate for independent frame processing
• Process shorter clips if encountering OOM errors

Quality vs Speed

For Best Quality:

• ColorMNet: memory_mode=high_quality, use_fp16=False, use_torch_compile=False
• Deep Exemplar: use_half_resolution=False, use_torch_compile=False, use_sage_attention=False

For Best Speed:

• ColorMNet: memory_mode=low_memory, use_fp16=True, use_torch_compile=True
• Deep Exemplar: use_half_resolution=True, use_torch_compile=True, use_sage_attention=True

Optimization Notes:

• torch.compile requires PyTorch 2.0+ and provides 15-25% speedup after initial warmup
• use_sage_attention (Deep Exemplar only) provides 20-30% faster attention with sageattention installed
• Both optimizations maintain identical quality to non-optimized versions

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🔧 Advanced Configuration

Custom Model Paths

Models are automatically downloaded to:

custom_nodes/ComfyUI-Reference-Based-Video-Colorization/
├── checkpoints/
│   ├── DINOv2FeatureV6_LocalAtten_s2_154000.pth  # ColorMNet (~500MB)
│   └── video_moredata_l1/
│       ├── nonlocal_net_iter_76000.pth            # Deep Exemplar
│       └── colornet_iter_76000.pth                # Deep Exemplar
└── data/
    ├── vgg19_conv.pth                              # Shared VGG19
    └── vgg19_gray.pth                              # Deep Exemplar VGG

Optimizations

torch.compile (PyTorch 2.0+): Provides 15-25% speedup through graph compilation and optimization.

• Available for all 4 nodes (ColorMNet + Deep Exemplar)
• Enable via use_torch_compile=True parameter
• First run includes warmup compilation (slower), subsequent runs benefit from speedup
• No additional installation required if using PyTorch 2.0+

SageAttention (Deep Exemplar only): INT8-quantized attention for 20-30% faster attention operations.

Installation:

pip install sageattention

Requirements:

• CUDA-capable GPU
• PyTorch with CUDA support
• Enable via use_sage_attention=True parameter
• Automatically falls back to standard attention if unavailable

CUDA Correlation Sampler (Optional for ColorMNet): ColorMNet can use optimized CUDA correlation operations if available.

Requirements:

• CUDA Toolkit installed
• Visual Studio Build Tools (Windows)
• Will be attempted automatically on first run

OpenCV Contrib (Required for WLS):

pip install opencv-contrib-python

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📚 Documentation

• Architecture - Technical implementation details
• Performance - Benchmarks and optimization guide
• Quick Start - Detailed getting started guide
• Migration Guide - Upgrading from older versions

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🎓 Citation

If you use these methods in your research, please cite the original papers:

ColorMNet

@article{yang2024colormnet,
  title={ColorMNet: A Memory-based Deep Spatial-Temporal Feature Propagation Network for Video Colorization},
  author={Yang, Yixin and Zhou, Xiaoyu and Liu, Chao and Chen, Junchi and Wang, Zhiwen},
  journal={arXiv preprint arXiv:2404.06251},
  year={2024}
}

Deep Exemplar

@inproceedings{zhang2019deep,
  title={Deep exemplar-based video colorization},
  author={Zhang, Bo and He, Mingming and Liao, Jing and Sander, Pedro V and Yuan, Lu and Bermak, Amine and Chen, Dong},
  booktitle={Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition},
  pages={8052--8061},
  year={2019}
}

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🔗 Related Projects

• Original ColorMNet: https://github.com/yyang181/colormnet
• Original Deep Exemplar: https://github.com/zhangmozhe/Deep-Exemplar-based-Video-Colorization
• ComfyUI: https://github.com/comfyanonymous/ComfyUI
• Bringing Old Photos Back to Life: https://github.com/microsoft/Bringing-Old-Photos-Back-to-Life

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📝 License

This ComfyUI implementation is licensed under the MIT License.

Note on Model Licenses:

• ColorMNet model: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (Non-commercial use only)
• Deep Exemplar model: Subject to original project license

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🙏 Acknowledgments

• ColorMNet implementation based on yyang181/colormnet
• Deep Exemplar implementation based on zhangmozhe/Deep-Exemplar-based-Video-Colorization
• Thanks to the ComfyUI community for feedback and testing

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🐛 Issues & Support

Found a bug or have a feature request? Please open an issue on GitHub!

For general questions:

1. Check the documentation
2. Review existing issues
3. Open a new issue with details

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🎯 Roadmap

• Batch processing optimization
• Memory-efficient streaming for long videos
• Additional colorization methods
• Color transfer utilities
• Integration with other ComfyUI nodes

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Star ⭐ this repo if you find it useful!