Fork of deforum-art/sd-webui-deforum with UI improvements, workflow tools, and practical documentation focused on usability during long render sessions.
This fork doesn't change the render engine. It only changes the UI and adds tools around it. Everything renders the same as upstream -- you just spend less time fighting the interface and more time iterating.
Start here, Microcosm (microcosm/)
The render viewer, my best settings, and the notes behind them. The viewer needs nothing installed, download one HTML file, double-click it, drag a render in, and watch the prompt / LoRAs / FOV / camera update at the frame you're looking at. Tick two renders to compare every parameter side by side with the differences highlighted.
microcosm/Microcosm.html, the viewer (no install, works offline)microcosm/BEST_DEFAULT_settings.txt, the real Microcosm recipe: prompts, full LoRA stack, init imagemicrocosm/BEST_PRACTICES.txt, what causes streaking, the smoothness recipes, camera rules
Once the extension is installed, the Deforum tab has an Open the render viewer button that opens this same Microcosm.html in a browser tab, one viewer, whether Stable Diffusion is open or closed.
Full guide in microcosm/README.md
- Preset dropdown, pick a saved recipe, it loads into every field. Presets are ordinary complete settings
.txtfiles in apresets/folder next to the WebUI. - Drag-and-drop preset import, drop any number of settings files to add them as presets. Each is validated, has its
init_imagerepaired if the file moved (oruse_initturned off if it's genuinely gone, this silently breaks loads otherwise), and stale resume-timestrings cleared. - Folders accordion, init-images and video/ControlNet input folders with a native folder picker. Models folder shown read-only, with a note that it's fixed at launch via
--ckpt-dir. - SUGGESTED values and info text on parameters and ControlNet toggles that shipped with none.
The single best result to date. A 15,000-frame, 1024x1024, 30fps two-cycle journey: geometric node-mandalas into a fractalized biological universe (mushroom caves, hidden faces, eyes, owls and wolves, fractal butterflies and caterpillars), then vast empty space, a wormhole, a biological singularity, then repeats. Hidden faces and creatures emerge "out of nowhere" throughout. Negatives live in the negative-prompt field, not inline.
examples/Spore_Mandala_BEST_EVER_settings.txt
The numbers that matter for this one:
| Setting | Value | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Sampler / scheduler | DPM++ 2M SDE / Karras | smooth, detail-preserving |
| Steps | 35 | clean frames, fast enough for 15k |
strength_schedule |
0:(0.7) |
strong scene persistence with init |
cfg_scale_schedule |
0: (8) |
punchy guidance for dense psychedelia |
noise_schedule |
0: (0.01) |
low per-frame noise, stable scene |
diffusion_cadence |
8 |
high consistency over thousands of frames |
color_coherence |
LAB | locks the palette across the journey |
midas_weight |
-0.3 |
inverted depth = the signature inside-out psychedelic warp |
translation_z |
0: (2.25) |
steady forward travel through the worlds |
| Keyframes | 43 @ 350-frame spacing | dense schedule, two full cycles |
add-detail-xl LoRA |
0.8 |
maximum fine detail without crunch |
The single best long-form recipe to date is included as a ready-to-load preset:
examples/Microcosm_Best_settings.txt
Load it via the Deforum tab's "Load all settings" button, then swap in your own prompts. It is a 15,000-frame, 1024x1024, 30fps organic micro-world walk-through tuned for long-run coherence. The numbers that matter:
| Setting | Value | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Sampler / scheduler | DPM++ 2M SDE / Karras | smooth, detail-preserving |
| Steps | 40 | enough for clean frames without crawl |
strength_schedule |
0: (0.6) |
frame-to-frame persistence without smearing |
cfg_scale_schedule |
0: (6) |
guidance without over-baking |
noise_schedule |
0: (0.01) |
low per-frame noise = stable scene |
noise_multiplier_schedule |
0: (1.0), scheduling off |
avoids the compounding-noise blowup that destroys coherence over thousands of frames |
diffusion_cadence |
5 |
strong consistency; in-between frames are warped, not re-rolled |
optical_flow_cadence |
DIS Fine | smooth motion across cadence skips |
color_coherence |
LAB | locks the palette so colors don't drift |
translation_z |
0: (2.5) |
slow forward drift; the camera explores one evolving world |
| Keyframes | 50 @ 300-frame spacing | dense prompt schedule for constant visual change |
Prompts in the preset are organic/photoreal micro-organism scenes; replace them with your own while keeping the motion and noise/cadence values.
# Replace the stock Deforum extension with this fork
cd stable-diffusion-webui/extensions
rm -rf deforum
git clone https://github.com/m1llipede/sd-webui-deforum deforumRestart the WebUI. The Deforum tab will appear with all changes active.
Every change below is something that was missing, broken, or annoying in the stock extension. Each one is a direct response to real problems encountered during hundreds of hours of render sessions.
The Keyframes tab now shows Strength schedules (Strength / CFG / Seed / SubSeed / Step / Sampler / Checkpoint) and Motion tabs (Motion / Noise / Coherence / Anti-Blur / Depth) side by side instead of stacked. You can see both without scrolling.
Stock Deforum makes it hard to manage settings files. This fork adds:
- Drag & drop upload -- drop any
.txtor.jsonsettings file onto the Upload area - Upload auto-updates the path -- so Save writes back to the correct file
- Save As... button -- save settings to any filename/path via popup dialog
- Live JSON settings editor -- full JSON editor built into the left panel
Dropping an image into the Init image box now automatically ticks the "Use init" checkbox. In stock Deforum, renders silently ignore the init image if you forget to manually tick the checkbox.
The MiDaS weight field is now always shown in Depth Warping & FOV. Stock Deforum hides it unless you select a legacy depth algorithm from the dropdown -- but you almost always want to adjust it.
Stock Deforum has minimal or empty tooltips on critical fields. This fork adds plain-English descriptions for:
| Field | What the tooltip explains |
|---|---|
noise_schedule |
What higher/lower values do to per-frame variation |
diffusion_cadence |
Speed/quality tradeoff (1 = every frame, 2-4 = good balance) |
optical_flow_cadence |
RAFT vs DIS Fine vs DIS Medium vs Farneback tradeoffs |
color_coherence |
LAB vs HSV vs RGB vs None and when to use each |
seed_behavior |
iter / fixed / random / schedule in plain English |
midas_weight |
Range guidance and default recommendation |
perspective_flip_* |
Which axis each parameter controls (were blank) |
enable_perspective_flip |
The 2D-simulates-3D use case |
- Save crash -- fixed a NoneType crash when saving settings with no model loaded
- Tab disappearance -- Quick Tools accordion referenced non-existent component keys, causing KeyError on startup; restored working UI
The gallery fills ~75% of the viewport instead of the cramped default. You can actually see what you're rendering.
A standalone HTML tool for reviewing and comparing renders side by side. Lives in tools/Deforum_Compare_Portable/.
The problem it solves: After 20+ test renders with different settings, you need to figure out which combination of strength, CFG, noise, cadence, optical flow, and model produced the best results. Deforum's auto-saved settings files contain 200+ parameters each -- manually diffing them is impossible.
- Open any folder of Deforum outputs -- it recursively scans all subfolders
- Matches videos to settings files automatically (by timestamp and folder name)
- Displays everything in a sortable table with inline video playback
- Select renders to compare -- check the boxes and click "Compare Selected"
- Shows a full settings diff with render-critical parameters (strength, CFG, noise, cadence, FOV, optical flow, depth) sorted to the top, camera motion in its own section, and all remaining parameters below
- "Only show differences" toggle hides identical parameters so you see only what changed
- Star rating and notes per render (persisted in browser localStorage)
- Drag-reorder rows to group interesting renders together
- Color-coded columns showing which settings vary between renders
- Full-size video viewer with left/right arrow key navigation
- Whole-page zoom control (100% / 150% / 200%)
- Export notes to CSV for sharing
- No install needed -- works on any machine with Chrome + Python
- Double-click
tools/Deforum_Compare_Portable/Launch Deforum Compare.bat - Click "Open Folder" and select your
outputs/img2img-imagesdirectory - Browse, rate, and compare your renders
The .bat starts a tiny Python web server (needed for the folder picker API) and opens Chrome. Keep the command window open while using the tool.
Practical lessons from hundreds of hours of Deforum renders. Not from docs -- from actual experience with what works and what doesn't.
- DPM++ 2M SDE + Karras at 40 steps is the most reliable baseline. Smooth frame-to-frame, fast enough for 8000+ frame runs.
- Resolution: 1024x1024 for SDXL. Higher rarely improves animation at playback speed.
- Diffusion cadence 2-4 is the sweet spot. Cadence 1 burns time and over-cooks artifacts. Cadence 2-4 lets optical flow do the work between frames.
- Strength 0.80-0.85 is the working range for 3D mode. Below 0.78 the model loses grip; above 0.88 you get flicker.
- Seed behavior: schedule gives controlled organic variation without the frozen look of fixed seed or the chaos of random.
- Keyframe every 600-800 frames for smooth transitions. Tighter feels rushed; looser feels aimless.
- Write prompts as active camera moves -- "Flying into", "Penetrating a", "Soaring through" -- reinforces motion vectors.
- Keep negative prompts consistent across all keyframes. Changing them mid-render causes tonal lurches.
These LoRAs are reliable for psychedelic/visionary/abstract animation work:
| LoRA | Role | Weight |
|---|---|---|
Unfazed_Psychedelic-000009 |
Core psychedelic style | 0.70-0.85 |
3D_Fractals_wDoF |
Depth-of-field fractal | 0.40-0.50 |
ral-mndlbrt-sdxl |
Mandelbrot/sacred geometry | 0.45-0.65 |
ral-colorswirl-sdxl |
Vivid color motion | 0.40-0.50 |
ral-hlgrphc-sdxl |
Holographic overlay | 0.35-0.45 |
ral-polygon-sdxl |
Hard geometric structure | 0.45-0.55 |
ral-3dcubes-sdxl |
Isometric cube lattices | 0.40-0.50 |
ral-iricnt-sdxl |
Iridescent shimmer | 0.40-0.50 |
add-detail-xl |
Global detail enhancement | 0.40-0.60 |
HR_Giger_SDXL |
Biomechanical texture | 0.40-0.55 |
fractalex |
Fractal field extension | 0.40-0.50 |
Keep total LoRA weight under ~2.0. 3-4 LoRAs at 0.35-0.55 each is more stable than 2 at high weights.
| Model | Best for |
|---|---|
juggernautXL_v8Rundiffusion |
Photorealistic base, holds detail across long runs |
dynavisionXLAllInOneStylized |
Stylized renders, great LoRA compatibility |
dreamshaperXL_lightningDPMSDE |
Fast, good for motion-heavy sequences |
nightvisionxl_V900 |
Dark atmospheric, Giger-adjacent |
RealVisXL_V5.0 |
High-realism, clean geometry |
epicrealismXL_pureFix |
Grounded surrealism, strong structure |
CyberRealisticXL_V9.0 |
Sci-fi and tech aesthetics |
MOHAWK_v20 |
Stylized character/organic work |
For abstract/psychedelic: dynavisionXL + heavy LoRA stack. For structure-forward renders: RealVisXL or epicrealismXL.
- Name your settings files immediately after a good render. The auto-save timestamps are impossible to remember.
- Use Save As to write named presets. Load them back with "Load All Settings."
- The included
smooth_master_settings.txtis a working baseline from a successful 8000-frame run.
- Large delay on first frame is normal -- depth models load at render start.
- MiDaS weight 0.3-0.5 is a good range. Too high = depth warping dominates; too low = 3D parallax disappears.
- Depth artifacts mid-run usually mean the depth model ran out of VRAM. Lower resolution or add
--lowvram.
| File | What changed |
|---|---|
scripts/deforum_helpers/ui_right.py |
Settings editor, save-as, drag-drop upload, larger gallery |
scripts/deforum_helpers/ui_left.py |
Two-column keyframes layout |
scripts/deforum_helpers/ui_elements.py |
Improved tooltips, MiDaS weight visibility |
scripts/deforum_helpers/args.py |
Settings editor component registration |
scripts/deforum_helpers/settings.py |
Save-as support, upload path auto-update |
scripts/deforum_helpers/gradio_funcs.py |
JSON editor sync functions (new file) |
scripts/deforum_helpers/render.py |
Init image auto-enable |
scripts/default_settings.txt |
Updated defaults from working render baseline |
style.css |
Gallery height override |
tools/Deforum_Compare_Portable/ |
Standalone render comparison tool (new) |
This program is distributed under the terms of the GNU Affero Public License v3.0, copyright (c) 2023 Deforum LLC.
Fork modifications by m1llipede.