# Unique3D: High-Quality and Efficient 3D Mesh Generation from a Single Image

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.20343 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.20343/

## Key facts

- Cited by 135 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 51 of its 70 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 30 May 2024.

## Placed in

- Diffusion models / [3D, point cloud and scene generation](https://mlsanity.com/diffusion/3d-point-cloud-and-scene-generation/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 51)

- [Learning Transferable Visual Models From Natural Language Supervision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.00020/) (2021)
- [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)
- [Denoising Diffusion Implicit Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.02502/) (2020)
- [Photorealistic Text-to-Image Diffusion Models with Deep Language Understanding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.11487/) (2022)
- [3D Gaussian Splatting for Real-Time Radiance Field Rendering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.04079/) (2023)
- [Adding Conditional Control to Text-to-Image Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.05543/) (2023)
- [Instant Neural Graphics Primitives with a Multiresolution Hash Encoding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.05989/) (2022)
- [DreamFusion: Text-to-3D using 2D Diffusion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.14988/) (2022)
- [ShapeNet: An Information-Rich 3D Model Repository](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1512.03012/) (2015)
- [DeepSDF: Learning Continuous Signed Distance Functions for Shape Representation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1901.05103/) (2019)
- [Make-A-Video: Text-to-Video Generation without Text-Video Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.14792/) (2022)
- [NeuS: Learning Neural Implicit Surfaces by Volume Rendering for Multi-view Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.10689/) (2021)
- [Objaverse: A Universe of Annotated 3D Objects](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.08051/) (2022)
- [Zero-1-to-3: Zero-shot One Image to 3D Object](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.11328/) (2023)
- [IP-Adapter: Text Compatible Image Prompt Adapter for Text-to-Image Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.06721/) (2023)
- [Magic3D: High-Resolution Text-to-3D Content Creation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.10440/) (2022)
- [ProlificDreamer: High-Fidelity and Diverse Text-to-3D Generation with Variational Score Distillation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.16213/) (2023)
- [Diffusion Models: A Comprehensive Survey of Methods and Applications](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.00796/) (2022)
- [Real-ESRGAN: Training Real-World Blind Super-Resolution with Pure Synthetic Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.10833/) (2021)
- [MVDream: Multi-view Diffusion for 3D Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.16512/) (2023)
- [LRM: Large Reconstruction Model for Single Image to 3D](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.04400/) (2023)
- [DreamGaussian: Generative Gaussian Splatting for Efficient 3D Content Creation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.16653/) (2023)
- [MVSNet: Depth Inference for Unstructured Multi-view Stereo](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1804.02505/) (2018)
- [Objaverse-XL: A Universe of 10M+ 3D Objects](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.05663/) (2023)
- [LGM: Large Multi-View Gaussian Model for High-Resolution 3D Content Creation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.05054/) (2024)
- [Wonder3D: Single Image to 3D using Cross-Domain Diffusion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.15008/) (2023)
- [Fantasia3D: Disentangling Geometry and Appearance for High-quality Text-to-3D Content Creation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.13873/) (2023)
- [SyncDreamer: Generating Multiview-consistent Images from a Single-view Image](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.03453/) (2023)
- [Google Scanned Objects: A High-Quality Dataset of 3D Scanned Household Items](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.11918/) (2022)

## Built on by (most cited first, 30 of 135)

- [ReconX: Reconstruct Any Scene from Sparse Views with Video Diffusion Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.16767/) (2024)
- [DimensionX: Create Any 3D and 4D Scenes from a Single Image with Controllable Video Diffusion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.04928/) (2024)
- [MIDI: Multi-Instance Diffusion for Single Image to 3D Scene Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.03558/) (2024)
- [RaDe-GS: Rasterizing Depth in Gaussian Splatting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.01467/) (2024)
- [CAST: Component-Aligned 3D Scene Reconstruction from an RGB Image](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.12894/) (2025)
- [3DTopia-XL: Scaling High-quality 3D Asset Generation via Primitive Diffusion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.12957/) (2024)
- [Hi3DGen: High-fidelity 3D Geometry Generation from Images via Normal Bridging](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.22236/) (2025)
- [LLaMA-Mesh: Unifying 3D Mesh Generation with Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.09595/) (2024)
- [EdgeRunner: Auto-regressive Auto-encoder for Artistic Mesh Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.18114/) (2024)
- [Step1X-3D: Towards High-Fidelity and Controllable Generation of Textured 3D Assets](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.07747/) (2025)
- [SF3D: Stable Fast 3D Mesh Reconstruction with UV-unwrapping and Illumination Disentanglement](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.00653/) (2024)
- [DeepMesh: Auto-Regressive Artist-mesh Creation with Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.15265/) (2025)
- [IDOL: Instant Photorealistic 3D Human Creation from a Single Image](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.14963/) (2024)
- [TexVerse: A Universe of 3D Objects with High-Resolution Textures](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.10868/) (2025)
- [VoxHammer: Training-Free Precise and Coherent 3D Editing in Native 3D Space](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.19247/) (2025)
- [Instant3dit: Multiview Inpainting for Fast Editing of 3D Objects](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.00518/) (2024)
- [Ultra3D: Efficient and High-Fidelity 3D Generation with Part Attention](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.17745/) (2025)
- [DynamicCity: Large-Scale 4D Occupancy Generation from Dynamic Scenes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.18084/) (2024)
- [ShapeLLM-Omni: A Native Multimodal LLM for 3D Generation and Understanding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.01853/) (2025)
- [EmbodiedGen: Towards a Generative 3D World Engine for Embodied Intelligence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.10600/) (2025)
- [MVPaint: Synchronized Multi-View Diffusion for Painting Anything 3D](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.02336/) (2024)
- [ReconViaGen: Towards Accurate Multi-view 3D Object Reconstruction via Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.23306/) (2025)
- [MaterialMVP: Illumination-Invariant Material Generation via Multi-view PBR Diffusion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.10289/) (2025)
- [VideoScene: Distilling Video Diffusion Model to Generate 3D Scenes in One Step](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.01956/) (2025)
- [Advances in Feed-Forward 3D Reconstruction and View Synthesis: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.14501/) (2025)
- [From One to More: Contextual Part Latents for 3D Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.08772/) (2025)
- [DRiVE: Diffusion-based Rigging Empowers Generation of Versatile and Expressive Characters](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.17423/) (2024)
- [Phys4DGen: Physics-Compliant 4D Generation with Multi-Material Composition Perception](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.16800/) (2024)
- [DepR: Depth Guided Single-view Scene Reconstruction with Instance-level Diffusion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.22825/) (2025)
- [FaceLift: Learning Generalizable Single Image 3D Face Reconstruction from Synthetic Heads](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.17812/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

In this work, we introduce Unique3D, a novel image-to-3D framework for efficiently generating high-quality 3D meshes from single-view images, featuring state-of-the-art generation fidelity and strong generalizability. Previous methods based on Score Distillation Sampling (SDS) can produce diversified 3D results by distilling 3D knowledge from large 2D diffusion models, but they usually suffer from long per-case optimization time with inconsistent issues. Recent works address the problem and generate better 3D results either by finetuning a multi-view diffusion model or training a fast feed-forward model. However, they still lack intricate textures and complex geometries due to inconsistency and limited generated resolution. To simultaneously achieve high fidelity, consistency, and efficiency in single image-to-3D, we propose a novel framework Unique3D that includes a multi-view diffusion model with a corresponding normal diffusion model to generate multi-view images with their normal maps, a multi-level upscale process to progressively improve the resolution of generated orthographic multi-views, as well as an instant and consistent mesh reconstruction algorithm called ISOMER, which fully integrates the color and geometric priors into mesh results. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our Unique3D significantly outperforms other image-to-3D baselines in terms of geometric and textural details.