From 1aec3a1351f7f5b7280553569a0dbef993b79e45 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: =?UTF-8?q?Jukka=20Sepp=C3=A4nen?=
 <40791699+kijai@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 2026 22:51:47 +0300
Subject: [PATCH] MiniMax-H3: Make VAE optional, allow using text encoder only
 references (#16065)

---
 comfy_extras/nodes_minimax_h3.py | 25 +++++++++++++++----------
 1 file changed, 15 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)

diff --git a/comfy_extras/nodes_minimax_h3.py b/comfy_extras/nodes_minimax_h3.py
index 9ac827b0a..108dee13c 100644
--- a/comfy_extras/nodes_minimax_h3.py
+++ b/comfy_extras/nodes_minimax_h3.py
@@ -256,8 +256,8 @@ class MiniMaxH3ReferenceToVideo(io.ComfyNode):
             category="model/conditioning/minimax",
             inputs=[
                 io.Clip.Input("clip"),
-                io.Vae.Input("vae"),
-                io.Vae.Input("audio_vae"),
+                io.Vae.Input("vae", optional=True, tooltip="Video VAE. Without it reference images/videos only condition the text encoder."),
+                io.Vae.Input("audio_vae", optional=True, tooltip="Audio VAE. Without it reference audio only conditions the text encoder."),
                 io.String.Input("prompt", multiline=True, dynamic_prompts=True),
                 io.Int.Input("width", default=1344, min=32, max=nodes.MAX_RESOLUTION, step=32),
                 io.Int.Input("height", default=768, min=32, max=nodes.MAX_RESOLUTION, step=32),
@@ -285,7 +285,7 @@ class MiniMaxH3ReferenceToVideo(io.ComfyNode):
         )
 
     @classmethod
-    def execute(cls, clip, vae, audio_vae, prompt, width, height, length, ref_image_size="match",
+    def execute(cls, clip, prompt, width, height, length, ref_image_size="match", vae=None, audio_vae=None,
                 ref_images=None, ref_videos=None, ref_video_audios=None, ref_audios=None) -> io.NodeOutput:
         latent, frame_count = _empty_av_latent(width, height, length)
 
@@ -304,9 +304,10 @@ class MiniMaxH3ReferenceToVideo(io.ComfyNode):
             tw = max(CANVAS_MULTIPLE, round(w * scale / CANVAS_MULTIPLE) * CANVAS_MULTIPLE)
             th = max(CANVAS_MULTIPLE, round(h * scale / CANVAS_MULTIPLE) * CANVAS_MULTIPLE)
             resized = _resize(img[:1], tw, th, "disabled")
-            z = vae.encode(resized)
             ref_items.append({"type": "image", "data": resized})
-            ref_blocks.append({"kind": "image", "latent_h": th // 16, "latent_w": tw // 16, "latent": z})
+            if vae is not None:
+                z = vae.encode(resized)
+                ref_blocks.append({"kind": "image", "latent_h": th // 16, "latent_w": tw // 16, "latent": z})
 
         ref_video_audios = ref_video_audios or {}
         for name, video_frames in (ref_videos or {}).items():
@@ -328,10 +329,7 @@ class MiniMaxH3ReferenceToVideo(io.ComfyNode):
             while n % 17 != 5:
                 n -= 1
             frames = frames[:n]
-            z = vae.encode(frames)
-            audio_latent, ref_audio_t = (None, 0)
             if soundtrack is not None:
-                audio_latent, ref_audio_t = _encode_ref_audio(audio_vae, soundtrack)
                 # the soundtrack gets its own <Audio j> label, emitted before <Video k>
                 ref_items.append({"type": "audio"})
             # Qwen sees the video at 2 fps with timestamps
@@ -339,6 +337,12 @@ class MiniMaxH3ReferenceToVideo(io.ComfyNode):
             qwen_frames = frames[sample_idx]
             ref_items.append({"type": "video", "data": qwen_frames,
                               "timestamps": [i / 2.0 for i in range(len(sample_idx))]})
+            if vae is None:
+                continue
+            z = vae.encode(frames)
+            audio_latent, ref_audio_t = (None, 0)
+            if soundtrack is not None and audio_vae is not None:
+                audio_latent, ref_audio_t = _encode_ref_audio(audio_vae, soundtrack)
             ref_blocks.append({"kind": "video_audio" if ref_audio_t else "video",
                                "latent_t": z.shape[2], "latent_h": ch // 16, "latent_w": cw // 16,
                                "ref_audio_t": ref_audio_t, "latent": z, "audio_latent": audio_latent})
@@ -346,9 +350,10 @@ class MiniMaxH3ReferenceToVideo(io.ComfyNode):
         for audio in (ref_audios or {}).values():
             if audio is None:
                 continue
-            audio_latent, ref_audio_t = _encode_ref_audio(audio_vae, audio)
             ref_items.append({"type": "audio"})
-            ref_blocks.append({"kind": "audio", "ref_audio_t": ref_audio_t, "audio_latent": audio_latent})
+            if audio_vae is not None:
+                audio_latent, ref_audio_t = _encode_ref_audio(audio_vae, audio)
+                ref_blocks.append({"kind": "audio", "ref_audio_t": ref_audio_t, "audio_latent": audio_latent})
 
         tokens = clip.tokenize(prompt, minimax_ref_items=ref_items)
         cond = clip.encode_from_tokens_scheduled(tokens)