# Diffusion-based Document Layout Generation

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10787 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.10787/

## Key facts

- Cited by 21 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 38 of its 48 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 19 Mar 2023.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 38)

- [BERT: Pre-training of Deep Bidirectional Transformers for Language Understanding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1810.04805/) (2018)
- [Language Models are Few-Shot Learners](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.14165/) (2020)
- [Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.11239/) (2020)
- [High-Resolution Image Synthesis with Latent Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.10752/) (2021)
- [Microsoft COCO: Common Objects in Context](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1405.0312/) (2014)
- [Denoising Diffusion Implicit Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.02502/) (2020)
- [Faster R-CNN: Towards Real-Time Object Detection with Region Proposal Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1506.01497/) (2015)
- [Masked Autoencoders Are Scalable Vision Learners](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.06377/) (2021)
- [Hierarchical Text-Conditional Image Generation with CLIP Latents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.06125/) (2022)
- [A Style-Based Generator Architecture for Generative Adversarial Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.04948/) (2018)
- [Generative Adversarial Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.00667/) (2022)
- [Neural Discrete Representation Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1711.00937/) (2017)
- [Image-to-Image Translation with Conditional Adversarial Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1611.07004/) (2016)
- [Improved Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.09672/) (2021)
- [DreamFusion: Text-to-3D using 2D Diffusion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.14988/) (2022)
- [Unsupervised Representation Learning with Deep Convolutional Generative Adversarial Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1511.06434/) (2015)
- [DiffWave: A Versatile Diffusion Model for Audio Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2009.09761/) (2020)
- [Diffusion-LM Improves Controllable Text Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.14217/) (2022)
- [Vector Quantized Diffusion Model for Text-to-Image Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.14822/) (2021)
- [Diffusion Probabilistic Models for 3D Point Cloud Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.01458/) (2021)
- [MusicLM: Generating Music From Text](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.11325/) (2023)
- [SeqGAN: Sequence Generative Adversarial Nets with Policy Gradient](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1609.05473/) (2016)
- [PubLayNet: largest dataset ever for document layout analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1908.07836/) (2019)
- [Deep Generative Image Models using a Laplacian Pyramid of Adversarial Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1506.05751/) (2015)
- [Precomputed Real-Time Texture Synthesis with Markovian Generative Adversarial Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1604.04382/) (2016)
- [Dreamix: Video Diffusion Models are General Video Editors](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.01329/) (2023)
- [DocBank: A Benchmark Dataset for Document Layout Analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.01038/) (2020)
- [LayoutGAN: Generating Graphic Layouts with Wireframe Discriminators](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1901.06767/) (2019)
- [LayoutTransformer: Layout Generation and Completion with Self-attention](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.14615/) (2020)
- [LayoutVAE: Stochastic Scene Layout Generation From a Label Set](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1907.10719/) (2019)

## Built on by (most cited first, 21 of 21)

- [TextDiffuser: Diffusion Models as Text Painters](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.10855/) (2023)
- [TextDiffuser-2: Unleashing the Power of Language Models for Text Rendering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.16465/) (2023)
- [IMPRINT: Generative Object Compositing by Learning Identity-Preserving Representation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.10701/) (2024)
- [Towards Aligned Layout Generation via Diffusion Model with Aesthetic Constraints](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.04754/) (2024)
- [CityCraft: A Real Crafter for 3D City Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.04983/) (2024)
- [Tuning Timestep-Distilled Diffusion Model Using Pairwise Sample Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.03190/) (2024)
- [LayoutFlow: Flow Matching for Layout Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.18187/) (2024)
- [Alfie: Democratising RGBA Image Generation With No ](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.14826/) (2024)
- [MMIG-Bench: Towards Comprehensive and Explainable Evaluation of Multi-Modal Image Generation Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.19415/) (2025)
- [Kubrick: Multimodal Agent Collaborations for Synthetic Video Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.10453/) (2024)
- [GlobalMapper: Arbitrary-Shaped Urban Layout Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.09693/) (2023)
- [COHO: Context-Sensitive City-Scale Hierarchical Urban Layout Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.11294/) (2024)
- [LTSim: Layout Transportation-based Similarity Measure for Evaluating Layout Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.12356/) (2024)
- [AesthetiQ: Enhancing Graphic Layout Design via Aesthetic-Aware Preference Alignment of Multi-modal Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.00591/) (2025)
- [Refine-by-Align: Reference-Guided Artifacts Refinement through Semantic Alignment](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.00306/) (2024)
- [Latent Diffusion for Guided Document Table Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.09800/) (2024)
- [Coeff-Tuning: A Graph Filter Subspace View for Tuning Attention-Based Large Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.18337/) (2025)
- [Relation-Rich Visual Document Generator for Visual Information Extraction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.10659/) (2025)
- [AI-Generated Lecture Slides for Improving Slide Element Detection and Retrieval](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.23605/) (2025)
- [Advancing Multimodal LLMs by Large-Scale 3D Visual Instruction Dataset Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.08513/) (2025)
- [Evaluating Reasoning Fidelity in Visual Text Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.04479/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We develop a diffusion-based approach for various document layout sequence generation. Layout sequences specify the contents of a document design in an explicit format. Our novel diffusion-based approach works in the sequence domain rather than the image domain in order to permit more complex and realistic layouts. We also introduce a new metric, Document Earth Mover's Distance (Doc-EMD). By considering similarity between heterogeneous categories document designs, we handle the shortcomings of prior document metrics that only evaluate the same category of layouts. Our empirical analysis shows that our diffusion-based approach is comparable to or outperforming other previous methods for layout generation across various document datasets. Moreover, our metric is capable of differentiating documents better than previous metrics for specific cases.