Z-Image Turbo with ControlNet Union 2.1 in ComfyUI
Z-Image Turbo ControlNet Union 2.1 version 2602 dropped recently, and users are already calling it a game-changer. If you’ve been using Z-Image for speed, quality, and prompt adherence, this ControlNet lets you control character composition in detail. In addition, this update brings a new…
Z-Image Turbo ControlNet Union 2.1 version 2602 dropped recently, and users are already calling it a game-changer. If you’ve been using Z-Image for speed, quality, and prompt adherence, this ControlNet lets you control character composition in detail. In addition, this update brings a new capability: coloring grayscale images. Reference Generated- Einstein Generated – anime OpenPose control with Z-Image with ControlNet Union. Coloring black-and-white photo using Z-image and ControlNet Union. In this guide, I’ll walk you through everything you need to know about this new version, what Gray Control does, and how to set it up in ComfyUI. Software needed We will use ComfyUI, a free AI image and video generator. You can use it on Windows, Mac, or Google Colab. Think Diffusion provides an online ComfyUI service. They offer an extra 20% credit to our readers. Read the ComfyUI beginner’s guide if you are new to ComfyUI. See the Quick Start Guide if you are new to AI images and videos. Take the ComfyUI course to learn how to use ComfyUI step by step. What is ControlNet Union? ControlNet Union is a universal ControlNet model. Traditional ControlNet models typically only do one thing for each model: OpenPose, Canny, etc. So you will need different ControlNet models for different tasks. ControlNet Union is “one model for them all”. A single ControlNet model can perform multiple controls, so you don’t need multiple models. What’s New in Version 2602? The latest update to Z-Image Turbo ControlNet Union 2.1 brings: Gray Control: Color a black-and-white image. Improved quality: Users report better outputs compared to earlier versions. Step-by-Step Installation Step 0: Update ComfyUI Before loading the workflow, make sure your ComfyUI is up-to-date. The easiest way to do this is to use ComfyUI Manager. Click the Manager button on the top toolbar. Select Update ComfyUI. Restart ComfyUI. Step 1: Download the Models Get Z-Image Turbo and ControlNet Union 2.1 models. Download ae.safetensors and put it in ComfyUI > models > vae folder. Download qwen_3_4b.safetensors and put it in ComfyUI > models > text_encoders folder. Download z_image_turbo_bf16.safetensors and put it in ComfyUI > models > diffusion_models folder. Download Z-Image-Turbo-Fun-Controlnet-Union-2.1-2602-8steps.safetensors. Put it in ComfyUI > models > model_patches. Step 2: Load the workflow Download the workflow JSON file below. Download Drop it to ComfyUI to load. Step 3: Install missing nodes If you see nodes with red borders, you don’t have the custom nodes required for this workflow. You should have ComfyUI Manager installed before performing this step. Click Manager > Install Missing Custom Nodes. Install the nodes that are missing. Restart ComfyUI. Refresh the ComfyUI page. Step 4: Upload a reference image Upload an image to the Reference Image node. You can use the test image below. Reference Step 5: Select a ControlNet Preprocessor Select a ControlNet preprocessor in the AIO Aux Preprocessor node. Some useful preprocessors are: OpenPose: Copy human pose DW: Copy human pose HED: Copy outline Zoe Depth Map: Copy depth composition Canny: Copy outlines Select None if you want to color a black-and-white photo. Step 6: Revise the prompt Describe the image you would like to generate in the prompt. Step 7: Generate an image Click the Run button to run the workflow. Grayscale mode Use the grayscale model of ControlNet Union to color a black-and-white image. Settings Preprocessor: None Prompt: A color photo, natural color, soft light Tips Change the seed value to generate a new image. Adjust the ControlNet strength to finetune the image. You should use the lowest value you can get away with. The ControlNet model seems to be trained with particular preprocessors. For example, try different depth models (Midas, Zoe, Depth Anything, etc.) to see which one works. Reference Z-Image Turbo ControlNet Union 2.1 Version 2602 Release – Reddit r/StableDiffusion ControlNet Union on Hugging Face – Official model page ComfyUI ControlNet Auxiliary – GitHub repo for the nodes The post Z-Image Turbo with ControlNet Union 2.1 in ComfyUI first appeared on Stable Diffusion Art.Source: Stable Diffusion Art — Published — Category: Image AI