Load Files From Folder (Step)

This is the grown-up version of "load a folder of images." Load Files From Folder (Step) takes everything the plain folder loader does - read one or more folders into a single batch, sorted and sliced - and adds two things that make it actually usable in a batch-processing pipeline: a batch_index that slides the frame window forward so each run loads the next fixed-size chunk, and a files output that tells you the absolute path of every image loaded. It's also the official successor to the deprecated Load Batch From Folder (Advanced), inheriting that node's entire resize arsenal.

How the stepping works

frame_start / frame_end define the initial window into the combined, sorted frame list - negative values count from the end, so defaults of 0 and -1 mean "everything." The trick is batch_index: bump it by one and the node shifts the whole window forward by the size of the window itself, so you process the folder in fixed-size chunks across queue runs. Pair it with an incrementing integer (Eclipse's Integer Generate is built for exactly this) and a single workflow walks through an entire folder one batch at a time. resize_mode still controls size normalization, including list mode, which skips stacking and returns mixed-size images as a list for preview testing.

The resize arsenal, briefly

If your images need to be a specific size before they hit a batch-aware node, this is where the node earns the "Advanced" in its name:

• scale_to + size - constrain by longest side, shortest side, width, height, or total pixels (in kilo-pixels).
• custom_width / custom_height - exact W×H when scale_to is custom (0 keeps the original dimension).
• aspect_ratio - override the ratio; original keeps it.
• fit - how to fit: resize (proportional), crop (fill then crop), pad (solid color), pad_edge / pad_edge_pixel (mean/edge colors), pillarbox_blur (blurred darkened background), or stretch (distort).
• crop_position, pad_color, method (default lanczos), divisible_by (round dims to a multiple, default 8), and device (cpu/gpu for resize ops - note lanczos isn't supported on GPU and silently falls back to bicubic).

Three outputs come back: images and masks as lists, plus files - the list of absolute file paths matching what was loaded. That third output is quietly the most useful one for anything that needs to track provenance or save results back with matching names.

Where it fits

Frame sequences for video, batches of reference crops, anything where you need "process the folder in chunks, in a stable order, at a guaranteed size." The files output makes it the natural front end for a pipeline that saves processed results named after their sources.

Install

Part of ComfyUI_Eclipse:

cd ComfyUI/custom_nodes
git clone https://github.com/r-vage/ComfyUI_Eclipse

Or install ComfyUI_Eclipse from ComfyUI Manager and restart. Dependencies are the pack's standard set. If you've landed here from the deprecated Advanced node, this is the one - same resizing, plus stepping and file paths on top.