MetaView DA3 Loader

Depth Anything 3 (DA3) is where depth estimation stopped being a ControlNet preprocessor and started being a 3D-reconstruction model - it reads depth and camera pose off images. The MetaView pipeline needs exactly that: it uses DA3's GIANT model to build a 3D feature volume plus predicted camera intrinsics, and a nested depth model to supply the depth map that anchors the scene. MetaView DA3 Loader (class MetaViewDA3Loader) is the node that loads both of them, bundled into a single DA3_MODEL object that MetaView3DConditioning consumes.

On its own this node does nothing visible - it's a feed node, the grocery run for the interesting part. But you can't do MetaView without it.

How it works

The node scans ComfyUI's model folders for DA3 models and gives you two dropdowns. On execution it builds a bundle that lazily loads both models: nothing touches the GPU until first use, and after each conditioning pass the models are offloaded back to CPU so the MetaView DiT can claim the VRAM for rendering. That hand-off is the whole reason the bundle exists - the giant model is big, and you don't want it squatting on the GPU while the DiT tries to render.

The node creates no junctions, hardlinks, or symlinks. It just reads what's already in your model folders. On first use it registers models/depthanything3 as a ComfyUI model-folder key, and it also scans the legacy models/depth_anything_3 directory for back-compat.

Inputs and output

• giant_model - the DA3 model providing 3D features + intrinsics. Either a single-file checkpoint like da3_giant.safetensors, or an HF-style directory like DA3-GIANT-1.1/ containing config.json.
• depth_model - the nested model providing the depth map: da3nested_giant_large.safetensors or DA3NESTED-GIANT-LARGE-1.1/.
• da3_model - the single output, wired into MetaView3DConditioning.

Both dropdowns are required, but if the folder is empty they render empty rather than crash - the node is built to wait for you to drop the files in.

Models and install

Install the pack via ComfyUI Manager ("Enviral Design Node Pack") or clone into ComfyUI/custom_nodes and restart. Then download the two models and place them under ComfyUI/models/depthanything3/:

• DA3-GIANT-1.1 - from huggingface.co/depth-anything/DA3-GIANT-1.1 (or a single-file da3_giant.safetensors named to match a community preset)
• DA3NESTED-GIANT-LARGE-1.1 - from huggingface.co/depth-anything/DA3NESTED-GIANT-LARGE-1.1

These are chunky downloads - set aside some time and disk. The pack vendors a minimal subset of the model code (Apache-2.0, ByteDance Seed) rather than pulling in the full DA3 repo with its heavy dependencies. The catch is the checkpoint license split: the GIANT and nested GIANT-LARGE models this node points at are CC BY-NC 4.0, non-commercial. The smaller Base/Small/Metric checkpoints are Apache-2.0. So if you're building something commercial, the license drives your model choice before anything else does.

Troubleshooting

• Empty dropdowns. Models not in models/depthanything3/ yet - drop them in and refresh. The node won't crash; it just offers nothing.
• Single-file checkpoint rejected. A bare .safetensors has to be named to match a known DA3 preset (e.g. da3_giant.safetensors). If the name doesn't map, use the HF-style directory form instead - it self-describes via config.json.
• VRAM pressure during rendering. The offloading is automatic, but if you still run short, this is a pipeline with several big models; low-VRAM cards will feel it.

If the MetaView pipeline is a play, this node is the backstage crew - invisible, unglamorous, and absolutely required before the curtain goes up.