AI Video: Black & White to Full Color

‍AI video colorization has transformed how we restore historical footage, blending AI image restoration with automated video workflows. This guide walks you through the entire process—from preparing your footage to producing crisp, colorized video content using the latest tools.
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🧾 Preparing Your Black & White Video

Before starting the colorization process:

1. Export a single frame from your original black and white video.
2. Choose a frame where the subject is clearly visible.
3. In tools like Premiere Pro, use the 📸 camera icon to export the frame.

This reference image becomes the foundation for your entire colorization workflow.
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🎨 Colorizing the Reference Frame with AI
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🧠 Photoshop Neural Filters Method

Photoshop includes a Colorize filter via:

Filter → Neural Filters → Colorize
‍Benefits:

• Auto-detects natural elements (e.g. trees → green)
• Applies realistic skin tones and object colors
• Offers manual control for hue, saturation, and detail enhancement
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💬 ChatGPT Alternative Method

Simply upload the black & white frame to ChatGPT and type:

“Colorize this image.”

While results vary, ChatGPT often delivers more vibrant and dynamic outcomes—though it may alter aspect ratios or crop details.
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⚙️ Video Colorization Using ComfyUI

🔧 Setting Up ComfyUI

• Download and install ComfyUI
• Launch via run_nvidia_gpu.bat or run_cpu.bat
• Use the manager to update all components
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📥 Installing Required Extensions

• Download the video colorization workflow from GitHub
• Drag .json or .workflow into ComfyUI
• Use the node manager to install any missing custom nodes

If needed, manually clone missing repos via command line.
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🎞 Processing Your Video

Upload your:

• Black and white video
• Colorized reference frame

Set:

• Frame cap = 0 (to colorize the full video)
• Use half res = false
• Match FPS with your source file
• CRF = 12 for best quality

Click Run and let the AI do its magic. The system applies colors intelligently across all frames.

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🚀 Enhancing with AI Upscaling

Once colorized, your video can be further improved using Topaz Video AI.
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🔼 Upscaling Workflow:

• Import your AI-colorized video
• Set resolution (e.g. 720p → 4K)
• Enable frame interpolation (16 → 32 fps)
• Use Rhea or Proteus model for natural skin tones and cinematic enhancement
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🧪 Results & Performance

• Typical 20-second clips process in ~5 minutes (GPU dependent)
• Colorization is consistent and vibrant
• Upscaling boosts detail clarity and frame fluidity
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Works great with:

• Landscapes
• People
• Cars
• Vintage, degraded footage

🧰 Workflow with Promptus Studio Comfy (PSC)

For professionals and teams, Promptus offers an elite, no-code platform for video generation and restoration.
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🔥 Why Use PSC?

• ✅ Browser-based + Cloud-powered
• ⚡ Drag-and-drop visual workflows via CosyFlows
• 🧠 Built-in access to Gemini Flash, HiDream, Hunyuan3D
• 🤝 Real-time collaboration + Discord integration
• 🎞 Workflow publishing for scalable pipelines

Promptus turns AI video tools into an intuitive, modular production system — no local installs or GPU required.
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🧩 Studio-Ready Infrastructure

PSC is built on ComfyUI, and enhanced for creators who want:

• Multi-modal generation (text, image, video)
• Scalable compute via distributed GPUs
• Access to Stable Diffusion, Gemini, GPT-4o, and more

Whether you're restoring archival footage or producing commercial-grade colorized reels — PSC gives you pro-grade autonomy and results.
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🎯 Conclusion

Modern AI has revolutionized video colorization, making it fast, consistent, and scalable.

By combining reference frame techniques, ComfyUI workflows, and powerful upscaling tools, you can bring historical footage back to life — in vivid color.
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For streamlined, studio-grade execution, explore Promptus Studio Comfy — your creative partner in advanced AI video generation.