mlsanityData to 14 Oct 2026

HumanRef: Single Image to 3D Human Generation via Reference-Guided Diffusion

arXiv 2311.16961 ↗First posted 28 Nov 2023cs.CVcited by 23

On the map: Diffusion models → 3D, point cloud and scene generation

Abstract (arXiv)

Generating a 3D human model from a single reference image is challenging because it requires inferring textures and geometries in invisible views while maintaining consistency with the reference image. Previous methods utilizing 3D generative models are limited by the availability of 3D training data. Optimization-based methods that lift text-to-image diffusion models to 3D generation often fail to preserve the texture details of the reference image, resulting in inconsistent appearances in different views. In this paper, we propose HumanRef, a 3D human generation framework from a single-view input. To ensure the generated 3D model is photorealistic and consistent with the input image, HumanRef introduces a novel method called reference-guided score distillation sampling (Ref-SDS), which effectively incorporates image guidance into the generation process. Furthermore, we introduce region-aware attention to Ref-SDS, ensuring accurate correspondence between different body regions. Experimental results demonstrate that HumanRef outperforms state-of-the-art methods in generating 3D clothed humans with fine geometry, photorealistic textures, and view-consistent appearances.

Key facts. Cited by 23 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Placed in 3D, point cloud and scene generation, one of 14 directions in Diffusion models. Builds on 59 of its 73 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 28 Nov 2023.

Builds on

59 of 73 references.

Closest ancestors · 11

Same direction, newest first

  1. 2023TeCH: Text-guided Reconstruction of Lifelike Clothed Humans16 Aug
  2. 2023Magic123: One Image to High-Quality 3D Object Generation Using Both 2D and 3D Diffusion Priors30 Jun
  3. 2023ProlificDreamer: High-Fidelity and Diverse Text-to-3D Generation with Variational Score Distillation25 May
  4. 2023Make-It-3D: High-Fidelity 3D Creation from A Single Image with Diffusion Prior24 Mar
  5. 2023Fantasia3D: Disentangling Geometry and Appearance for High-quality Text-to-3D Content Creation24 Mar
  6. 2023Zero-1-to-3: Zero-shot One Image to 3D Object20 Mar
  7. 2022NeRDi: Single-View NeRF Synthesis with Language-Guided Diffusion as General Image Priors6 Dec
  8. 2022Score Jacobian Chaining: Lifting Pretrained 2D Diffusion Models for 3D Generation1 Dec
  9. 2022NeuralLift-360: Lifting An In-the-wild 2D Photo to A 3D Object with 360deg Views29 Nov
  10. 2022Magic3D: High-Resolution Text-to-3D Content Creation18 Nov
  11. 2022DreamFusion: Text-to-3D using 2D Diffusion29 Sep

Other references · 48

  1. 2021Learning Transferable Visual Models From Natural Language Supervisioncited by 33,744
  2. 2020Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Modelscited by 21,076
  3. 2019PyTorch: An Imperative Style, High-Performance Deep Learning Librarycited by 20,305
  4. 2021High-Resolution Image Synthesis with Latent Diffusion Modelscited by 18,863
  5. 2018The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Deep Features as a Perceptual Metriccited by 11,177
  6. 2020Denoising Diffusion Implicit Modelscited by 9,781
  7. 2021Diffusion Models Beat GANs on Image Synthesiscited by 8,255
  8. 2017Mask R-CNNcited by 7,277
  9. 2015Deep Unsupervised Learning using Nonequilibrium Thermodynamicscited by 7,058
  10. 2022Hierarchical Text-Conditional Image Generation with CLIP Latentscited by 6,585
  11. 2022Photorealistic Text-to-Image Diffusion Models with Deep Language Understandingcited by 6,355
  12. 2023BLIP-2: Bootstrapping Language-Image Pre-training with Frozen Image Encoders and Large Language Modelscited by 6,137
36 more
  1. 2022Classifier-Free Diffusion Guidancecited by 5,847
  2. 2021GLIDE: Towards Photorealistic Image Generation and Editing with Text-Guided Diffusion Modelscited by 3,614
  3. 2016Perceptual Losses for Real-Time Style Transfer and Super-Resolutioncited by 2,694
  4. 2019Expressive Body Capture: 3D Hands, Face, and Body from a Single Imagecited by 1,612
  5. 2021Volume Rendering of Neural Implicit Surfacescited by 996
  6. 2019PIFu: Pixel-Aligned Implicit Function for High-Resolution Clothed Human Digitizationcited by 818
  7. 2023MasaCtrl: Tuning-Free Mutual Self-Attention Control for Consistent Image Synthesis and Editingcited by 727
  8. 2016Keep it SMPL: Automatic Estimation of 3D Human Pose and Shape from a Single Imagecited by 695
  9. 2020PIFuHD: Multi-Level Pixel-Aligned Implicit Function for High-Resolution 3D Human Digitizationcited by 521
  10. 2022Latent-NeRF for Shape-Guided Generation of 3D Shapes and Texturescited by 506
  11. 2023UniPC: A Unified Predictor-Corrector Framework for Fast Sampling of Diffusion Modelscited by 450
  12. 2023Humans in 4D: Reconstructing and Tracking Humans with Transformerscited by 350
  13. 2022NeuS2: Fast Learning of Neural Implicit Surfaces for Multi-view Reconstructioncited by 314
  14. 2020HybrIK: A Hybrid Analytical-Neural Inverse Kinematics Solution for 3D Human Pose and Shape Estimationcited by 307
  15. 2023RealFusion: 360deg Reconstruction of Any Object from a Single Imagecited by 306
  16. 2021ICON: Implicit Clothed humans Obtained from Normalscited by 283
  17. 2020ARCH: Animatable Reconstruction of Clothed Humanscited by 257
  18. 2021Function4D: Real-time Human Volumetric Capture from Very Sparse Consumer RGBD Sensorscited by 246
  19. 2019Multi-Garment Net: Learning to Dress 3D People from Imagescited by 245
  20. 2018Video Based Reconstruction of 3D People Modelscited by 238
  21. 2023DreamBooth3D: Subject-Driven Text-to-3D Generationcited by 235
  22. 2020PaMIR: Parametric Model-Conditioned Implicit Representation for Image-based Human Reconstructioncited by 231
  23. 2018Learning to Estimate 3D Human Pose and Shape from a Single Color Imagecited by 226
  24. 2018Neural Body Fitting: Unifying Deep Learning and Model-Based Human Pose and Shape Estimationcited by 185
  25. 2019Self-Correction for Human Parsingcited by 180
  26. 2019Learning to Reconstruct People in Clothing from a Single RGB Cameracited by 168
  27. 2022StyleGAN-Human: A Data-Centric Odyssey of Human Generationcited by 144
  28. 2018The Contextual Loss for Image Transformation with Non-Aligned Datacited by 135
  29. 2022Photorealistic Monocular 3D Reconstruction of Humans Wearing Clothingcited by 126
  30. 2018Detailed Human Avatars from Monocular Videocited by 109
  31. 2023AvatarCraft: Transforming Text into Neural Human Avatars with Parameterized Shape and Pose Controlcited by 84
  32. 2023High-Fidelity Clothed Avatar Reconstruction from a Single Imagecited by 38
  33. 2022FOF: Learning Fourier Occupancy Field for Monocular Real-time Human Reconstructioncited by 27
  34. 2023D-IF: Uncertainty-aware Human Digitization via Implicit Distribution Fieldcited by 26
  35. 2022Structured 3D Features for Reconstructing Controllable Avatarscited by 19
  36. 2022Adaptive Joint Optimization for 3D Reconstruction with Differentiable Renderingcited by 5

Built on by

Cited by year (2026 to 14 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2024: 5; 2025: 10; 2026: 8.

23 papers.

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  1. 2024Advances in 3D Generation: A Surveycited by 63
  2. 2024IDOL: Instant Photorealistic 3D Human Creation from a Single Imagecited by 55
  3. 2024MagicMan: Generative Novel View Synthesis of Humans with 3D-Aware Diffusion and Iterative Refinementcited by 24
  4. 2024PuzzleAvatar: Assembling 3D Avatars from Personal Albumscited by 16
  5. 2025UP2You: Fast Reconstruction of Yourself from Unconstrained Photo Collectionscited by 10
  6. 2026Vision as Unified Multimodal Generationcited by 7
  7. 2024Motion-Aware Animatable Gaussian Avatars Deblurringcited by 6
  8. 2025WonderHuman: Hallucinating Unseen Parts in Dynamic 3D Human Reconstructioncited by 6
  9. 2025DeClotH: Decomposable 3D Cloth and Human Body Reconstruction from a Single Imagecited by 4
  10. 2025Dream, Lift, Animate: From Single Images to Animatable Gaussian Avatarscited by 4
  11. 2025R3-Avatar: Record and Retrieve Temporal Codebook for Reconstructing Photorealistic Human Avatarscited by 3
  12. 2025PARTE: Part-Guided Texturing for 3D Human Reconstruction from a Single Imagecited by 2
11 more
  1. 2025Snap-Snap: Taking Two Images to Reconstruct 3D Human Gaussians in Millisecondscited by 2
  2. 2026MultiGO++: Monocular 3D Clothed Human Reconstruction via Geometry-Texture Collaborationcited by 2
  3. 2025MVD-HuGaS: Human Gaussians from a Single Image via 3D Human Multi-view Diffusion Priorcited by 1
  4. 2025Hyper Diffusion Avatars: Dynamic Human Avatar Generation using Network Weight Space Diffusioncited by 1
  5. 2026MVAnimate: Enhancing Character Animation with Multi-View Optimizationcited by 1
  6. 2026Large-Scale High-Quality 3D Gaussian Head Reconstruction from Multi-View Capturescited by 1
  7. 2025WordCraft: Interactive Artistic Typography with Attention Awareness and Noise Blendingcited by 0
  8. 2026DogWeave: High-Fidelity 3D Canine Reconstruction from a Single Image via Normal Fusion and Conditional Inpaintingcited by 0
  9. 2026Advances in Neural 3D Mesh Texturing: A Surveycited by 0
  10. 2026JacobianAvatar: Temporally Consistent Semi-rigid Avatar Reconstruction from a Monocular Videocited by 0
  11. 2026Detangled: A Framework for Creating, Editing, and Inferencing Feature Rich Hair Strandscited by 0

Similar, not cited

Close in wording, no citation either way

  1. 2023HumanLiff: Layer-wise 3D Human Generation with Diffusion Model
  2. 2023Single-Image 3D Human Digitization with Shape-Guided Diffusion
  3. 2025HumanGif: Single-View Human Diffusion with Generative Prior
  4. 2023HumanNorm: Learning Normal Diffusion Model for High-quality and Realistic 3D Human Generation
  5. 2025GaussianIP: Identity-Preserving Realistic 3D Human Generation via Human-Centric Diffusion Prior
  6. 2023MVHuman: Tailoring 2D Diffusion with Multi-view Sampling For Realistic 3D Human Generation
  7. 2023HyperHuman: Hyper-Realistic Human Generation with Latent Structural Diffusion
  8. 2025HuGeDiff: 3D Human Generation via Diffusion with Gaussian Splatting