Rebel VAE Decode 🖼️

When your sampler hands you a LATENT, that's not an image yet - it's a compressed mathematical representation that no human should look at. Rebel VAE Decode 🖼️ is the step that turns it back into pixels: the pack's animated version of ComfyUI's VAEDecode, taking a latent plus a VAE and returning an IMAGE you can finally preview and save. In every standard workflow it sits right between the KSampler and your preview/save nodes, and the Rebel version is a faithful drop-in - same sockets, same output, animated backdrop instead of gray.

How it works

The usual wrapper architecture: pull the native VAEDecode inputs, add theme and color_scheme, delegate the decode call straight to core ComfyUI. The actual latent-to-image math is ComfyUI's own - nothing is modified or "enhanced" by the pretty box. The animation is drawn by the pack's frontend JS behind the widgets, costing no VRAM and no decode time.

The inputs that matter

• samples - the LATENT to decode, wired from your KSampler (or from whatever produced the latent you're turning into pixels).
• vae - the VAE to decode with, wired from your VAE loader. Use the same VAE family that encoded (or that your workflow expects); a mismatched VAE is the classic source of weird colors and garbage.
• theme / color_scheme - the 12 animations and 14 palettes. Decoration.

The output is a single IMAGE, which feeds your preview node, save node, or further image processing.

Installing it

One clone, no dependencies:

cd ComfyUI/custom_nodes
git clone https://github.com/RealRebelAI/Rebels_Animated_Nodes.git

Restart ComfyUI, then hard refresh the browser (Ctrl + F5 / Cmd + Shift + R) so the cached frontend JavaScript reloads and the animation actually draws. It's under Rebel AI → Animated Core.

Where people get burned

• Garbage output - wrong VAE. If your decoded image looks like static or a strange color wash, check which VAE you wired in. The decode node will faithfully decode with any VAE you give it; it won't save you from picking the wrong one.
• No animation after install. Browser cache - hard refresh, and re-refresh if you've updated the pack. This is the pack's documented #1 issue.
• Flat backdrop on Nodes 2.0. The pack renders on the legacy LiteGraph canvas; decoding works fine but the animation can go missing under ComfyUI's newer frontend.

It's a simple node with a simple job: finish the pipeline by making your latent visible. If you're building a Rebel-themed graph, this is the natural partner to the Rebel Save and Rebel Preview nodes - decode, look, save, all in matching jackets.