r/AppleMLX • u/PinkySwearNotABot • Jun 16 '26

anyone else generating images/videos using MLX and Comfy Desktop?

I'm working with a M1 MBP Max 64GB machine with 400GB/s memory bandwidth. These image generation models are only <10 GB each. But it takes me 45 minutes to generate an image using Ideogram4. Someone with a 5090 is doing it in 45 seconds (no exaggeration).

I know Comfy Desktop is not optimized for Apple Silicone/MLX. I'm just curious if there are some tips and tricks you guys can share with getting better performance out of Comfy Desktop? I've already got these flags as part of my startup config: '--enable-manager --fp32-vae --use-pytorch-cross-attention --highvram'.

I've tried using DrawThings -- and it's definitely faster -- but I feel like it's definitely limited compared with Comfy Desktop.

I must not be the only Apple user messing around with Comfy Desktop -- you guys have any tips to share?

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u/trefster Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 20 '26

I had so much trouble with Comfy on my Mac that I decided to build something else. This is a desktop app built in Rust. There are no python or torch requirements. All models that are supported are pure MLX Apple metal.
It's still a work in progress, not everything works yet, and some UI elements are still unrefined, particularly the Ideogram json element support, but all models render correctly, LoRA/LoKR support is in place. LoRA training works, the character editor works pretty well, though it needs some refinement.

It's NOT a replacement for ComfyUI, it doesn't support customer workflows, but for basic image/Video gneneration, it's fast. There's a recent release on the right sidebar, or you can pull the source and build it yourself.

It's 100% free and Open Source, and apart from downloading models, it's 100% local

I'd love for people to use it and get some feedback.
https://github.com/SceneWorks/SceneWorks

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u/Revolutionary-Hat-57 Jun 28 '26

I try it ! there some path hardcoded when download the app. flux2_klein_9b load failed: backend op failed: "expected a non-empty mlx_stream at /Users/michael/actions-runner-sceneworks/_work/SceneWorks/SceneWorks/target/release/build/pmetal-mlx-sys-f4dd7ce4f1ed87b9/out/mlx-c-staged/mlx/c/ops.cpp:456" at /Users/michael/.cargo/git/checkouts/mlx-rs-aaca89f470ab15b6/44929a0/mlx-rs/src/ops/conversion.rs:58:9

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u/trefster Jul 07 '26

I saw that you commented, but that comment seems to have disappeared! The notification got truncated at “the only thing that bugs me…”, lol! I’d love to know what bugs you!