Image From Folder (Index)

Sometimes you don't want to pick an image in the UI - you want the graph to pick it for you, one per loop iteration. That's what this node is for: it loads a single image from a folder by index, so a workflow that runs in chunks can pull a different reference image each time it executes. In the VRGameDevGirl music-video pipeline it's how per-scene reference frames get driven by the loop counter instead of by your mouse.

The behavior is simple and predictable. Files are collected from folder_path, sorted by the first number found in the filename (so frame_001.png before frame_002.png, regardless of string ordering), and index selects which one loads. Index 0 is the first image, not the first frame of a video.

What the knobs do

• folder_path - the directory. It must exist and contain at least one image (png, jpg, jpeg, webp, bmp, tiff are all fine). Missing folder or no images throws a clear error.
• index - which image to load, zero-based.
• random_after_end - the interesting one. Normally the index wraps around with modulo, so index 12 on a 10-image folder loads image 2. With random_after_end on, once the index passes the end of the list it picks a random image instead of looping, with a guard: it won't repeat either of the last two picks. That gives you variety without the same two frames bouncing back and forth.

Output is a single image (IMAGE tensor) ready to wire into a VAE encode or a sampler as conditioning. Nothing else.

Where it fits

If you're looping a workflow over scenes, wire your loop index into index and you get deterministic per-iteration reference images. random_after_end is the trap to watch: it changes behavior after the last index, so a loop that's supposed to wrap cleanly will suddenly start showing random frames once you exceed the count. That's the feature - it's for "loop infinitely but keep it fresh" mode - but if your loop index legitimately cycles past the end, leave it off and rely on the modulo wrap.

Install

Same pack, same install: ComfyUI Manager → search "vrgamedev", or git clone https://github.com/vrgamegirl19/comfyui-vrgamedevgirl into ComfyUI/custom_nodes, restart. No extra dependencies beyond what the pack already needs, no models. One filename-sorting quirk worth knowing: files whose names contain no number at all sort to the end (treated as infinity), so name your reference frames with numbers if you want order to mean anything.