Shima Carousel Preview

When you run a batch, Shima's MultiSaver can write out multiple files per item - the raw image, a lineart, a canny edge, a depth map - and before long you're shuffling through folders trying to remember which _raw_ goes with which _canny_. Shima Carousel Preview is the answer: it takes the list of saved paths from MultiSaver, groups them by batch, and gives you prev/next buttons to flip through each batch's whole set of outputs. Batch 3's original, lineart, depth and all, in one place, one click apart.

How it works

You feed it the saved_paths output from MultiSaver (a comma-separated string). The node parses those paths and groups them by batch using the filename structure MultiSaver writes: {prefix}_{type}_{timestamp}_{CID}.png. The timestamp-plus-collision-ID chunk - something like 20260125_005406_MIHEQV - is the group key, so every variant from the same generation run lands in the same group.

Each image is copied to ComfyUI's temp directory and handed to the frontend, which renders the carousel with navigation. The node also exposes a single group_info STRING output summarizing the tally ("Groups: 12 | Total: 36"), in case you want to log or display it.

One nice touch: it accepts the paths as plain comma-separated text or the newer JSON format MultiSaver can emit, so it keeps working as the pack evolves. And if you'd rather just preview a batch of images directly without the path dance, there's an optional images input that bypasses the file logic entirely.

The inputs that matter

• saved_paths - required. Wire this to MultiSaver's saved_paths output; the tooltip literally says "Comma-separated paths from MultiSaver saved_paths output."
• images - optional direct IMAGE input, for when you want to preview a batch without the saved-path machinery.
• allow_external_linking - the pack-wide toggle that lets this node broadcast/receive outside its "island" group. Leave off unless you're deliberately mixing islands.

Installing it

Part of the Shima pack. ComfyUI Manager → search Shima, or:

cd ComfyUI/custom_nodes
git clone https://github.com/KDB-USJP/shima_wf.git Shima

Restart ComfyUI. First launch auto-installs the pack's Python deps and its two companion repos (ComfyUI-Impact-Pack, cg-use-everywhere).

Common issues

• "Grouped wrong / everything in one group." The grouping depends on the MultiSaver filename pattern containing a timestamp+CID. If you're pointing it at files from a different saver that don't match that pattern, it falls back to best-effort grouping by the trailing ID or the whole filename - imperfect but usually still usable.
• Missing images. The node only shows files that actually exist on disk at execution time. If you moved or cleaned the output folder since saving, those previews vanish. Re-run the workflow to refresh the paths.
• This isn't a generic image viewer. It's built to consume MultiSaver's saved_paths. For a plain batch preview, use the images input instead.

For anyone running Shima's MultiSaver-based pipelines - which is most of the pack's real usage - this is the missing eyeball between "batch finished" and "which one did I like." It won't make your images better, but it'll stop you from opening a dozen folders to find out.