# AnyStory: Towards Unified Single and Multiple Subject Personalization in Text-to-Image Generation

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.09503 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.09503/

## Key facts

- Cited by 16 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 67 of its 74 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 16 Jan 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 67)

- [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)
- [Diffusion Models Beat GANs on Image Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.05233/) (2021)
- [Deep Unsupervised Learning using Nonequilibrium Thermodynamics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1503.03585/) (2015)
- [BLIP-2: Bootstrapping Language-Image Pre-training with Frozen Image Encoders and Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.12597/) (2023)
- [Scalable Diffusion Models with Transformers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.09748/) (2022)
- [Classifier-Free Diffusion Guidance](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.12598/) (2022)
- [Flamingo: a Visual Language Model for Few-Shot Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.14198/) (2022)
- [SDXL: Improving Latent Diffusion Models for High-Resolution Image Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.01952/) (2023)
- [Qwen2-VL: Enhancing Vision-Language Model's Perception of the World at Any Resolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.12191/) (2024)
- [LAION-5B: An open large-scale dataset for training next generation image-text models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.08402/) (2022)
- [Generative Modeling by Estimating Gradients of the Data Distribution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1907.05600/) (2019)
- [DreamBooth: Fine Tuning Text-to-Image Diffusion Models for Subject-Driven Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.12242/) (2022)
- [Elucidating the Design Space of Diffusion-Based Generative Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.00364/) (2022)
- [Categorical Reparameterization with Gumbel-Softmax](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1611.01144/) (2016)
- [Prompt-to-Prompt Image Editing with Cross Attention Control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.01626/) (2022)
- [Masked-attention Mask Transformer for Universal Image Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.01527/) (2021)
- [An Image is Worth One Word: Personalizing Text-to-Image Generation using Textual Inversion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.01618/) (2022)
- [LAION-400M: Open Dataset of CLIP-Filtered 400 Million Image-Text Pairs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.02114/) (2021)
- [Objaverse: A Universe of Annotated 3D Objects](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.08051/) (2022)
- [IP-Adapter: Text Compatible Image Prompt Adapter for Text-to-Image Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.06721/) (2023)
- [Multi-Concept Customization of Text-to-Image Diffusion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.04488/) (2022)
- [PixArt-α: Fast Training of Diffusion Transformer for Photorealistic Text-to-Image Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.00426/) (2023)
- [MasaCtrl: Tuning-Free Mutual Self-Attention Control for Consistent Image Synthesis and Editing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.08465/) (2023)
- [Attend-and-Excite: Attention-Based Semantic Guidance for Text-to-Image Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.13826/) (2023)
- [Animate Anyone: Consistent and Controllable Image-to-Video Synthesis for Character Animation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.17117/) (2023)
- [BLIP-Diffusion: Pre-trained Subject Representation for Controllable Text-to-Image Generation and Editing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.14720/) (2023)
- [InstantID: Zero-shot Identity-Preserving Generation in Seconds](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.07519/) (2024)
- [ELITE: Encoding Visual Concepts into Textual Embeddings for Customized Text-to-Image Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.13848/) (2023)

## Built on by (most cited first, 16 of 16)

- [DreamO: A Unified Framework for Image Customization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.16915/) (2025)
- [OminiControl2: Efficient Conditioning for Diffusion Transformers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.08280/) (2025)
- [CreatiDesign: A Unified Multi-Conditional Diffusion Transformer for Creative Graphic Design](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.19114/) (2025)
- [Personalize Anything for Free with Diffusion Transformer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.12590/) (2025)
- [Story2Board: A Training-Free Approach for Expressive Storyboard Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.09983/) (2025)
- [Lay2Story: Extending Diffusion Transformers for Layout-Togglable Story Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.08949/) (2025)
- [The Consistency Critic: Correcting Inconsistencies in Generated Images via Reference-Guided Attentive Alignment](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.20614/) (2025)
- [MultiCrafter: High-Fidelity Multi-Subject Generation via Disentangled Attention and Identity-Aware Preference Alignment](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.21953/) (2025)
- [DSH-Bench: A Difficulty- and Scenario-Aware Benchmark with Hierarchical Subject Taxonomy for Subject-Driven Text-to-Image Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.08090/) (2026)
- [Identity-Preserving Text-to-Image Generation via Dual-Level Feature Decoupling and Expert-Guided Fusion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.22360/) (2025)
- [StorySync: Training-Free Subject Consistency in Text-to-Image Generation via Region Harmonization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.03735/) (2025)
- [DreamShot: Personalized Storyboard Synthesis with Video Diffusion Prior](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.17195/) (2026)
- [ReMix: Towards a Unified View of Consistent Character Generation and Editing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.10156/) (2025)
- [Rethinking Multi-Condition DiTs: Eliminating Redundant Attention via Position-Alignment and Keyword-Scoping](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.06850/) (2026)
- [AnyPhoto: Multi-Person Identity Preserving Image Generation with ID Adaptive Modulation on Location Canvas](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.14770/) (2026)
- [RAVA: Retrieval-Augmented Viewpoint Alignment for Subject-Driven Image Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.17619/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Recently, large-scale generative models have demonstrated outstanding text-to-image generation capabilities. However, generating high-fidelity personalized images with specific subjects still presents challenges, especially in cases involving multiple subjects. In this paper, we propose AnyStory, a unified approach for personalized subject generation. AnyStory not only achieves high-fidelity personalization for single subjects, but also for multiple subjects, without sacrificing subject fidelity. Specifically, AnyStory models the subject personalization problem in an "encode-then-route" manner. In the encoding step, AnyStory utilizes a universal and powerful image encoder, i.e., ReferenceNet, in conjunction with CLIP vision encoder to achieve high-fidelity encoding of subject features. In the routing step, AnyStory utilizes a decoupled instance-aware subject router to accurately perceive and predict the potential location of the corresponding subject in the latent space, and guide the injection of subject conditions. Detailed experimental results demonstrate the excellent performance of our method in retaining subject details, aligning text descriptions, and personalizing for multiple subjects. The project page is at https://aigcdesigngroup.github.io/AnyStory/ .