mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

GCC: Generative Color Constancy via Diffusing a Color Checker

arXiv 2502.17435 ↗First posted 24 Feb 2025cs.CVcited by 8

On the map: Diffusion models → Image generation, text-to-image and editing

Abstract (arXiv)

Color constancy methods often struggle to generalize across different camera sensors due to varying spectral sensitivities. We present GCC, which leverages diffusion models to inpaint color checkers into images for illumination estimation. Our key innovations include (1) a single-step deterministic inference approach that inpaints color checkers reflecting scene illumination, (2) a Laplacian decomposition technique that preserves checker structure while allowing illumination-dependent color adaptation, and (3) a mask-based data augmentation strategy for handling imprecise color checker annotations. By harnessing rich priors from pre-trained diffusion models, GCC demonstrates strong robustness in challenging cross-camera scenarios. These results highlight our method's effective generalization capability across different camera characteristics without requiring sensor-specific training, making it a versatile and practical solution for real-world applications.

Key facts. Cited by 8 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Placed in Image generation, text-to-image and editing, one of 14 directions in Diffusion models. Builds on 40 of its 75 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 24 Feb 2025.

Builds on

40 of 75 references.

Closest ancestors · 8

Same direction, newest first

  1. 2023IP-Adapter: Text Compatible Image Prompt Adapter for Text-to-Image Diffusion Models13 Aug
  2. 2023Controlling Text-to-Image Diffusion by Orthogonal Finetuning12 Jun
  3. 2023SVDiff: Compact Parameter Space for Diffusion Fine-Tuning20 Mar
  4. 2023Adding Conditional Control to Text-to-Image Diffusion Models10 Feb
  5. 2022Paint by Example: Exemplar-based Image Editing with Diffusion Models23 Nov
  6. 2022DreamBooth: Fine Tuning Text-to-Image Diffusion Models for Subject-Driven Generation25 Aug
  7. 2022Blended Latent Diffusion6 Jun
  8. 2021Blended Diffusion for Text-driven Editing of Natural Images29 Nov

Other references · 32

  1. 2015U-Net: Convolutional Networks for Biomedical Image Segmentationcited by 19,604
  2. 2021High-Resolution Image Synthesis with Latent Diffusion Modelscited by 18,694
  3. 2021LoRA: Low-Rank Adaptation of Large Language Modelscited by 14,084
  4. 2021Diffusion Models Beat GANs on Image Synthesiscited by 8,185
  5. 2015Deep Unsupervised Learning using Nonequilibrium Thermodynamicscited by 7,005
  6. 2022An Image is Worth One Word: Personalizing Text-to-Image Generation using Textual Inversioncited by 2,231
  7. 2021Variational Diffusion Modelscited by 1,145
  8. 2023Common Diffusion Noise Schedules and Sample Steps are Flawedcited by 308
  9. 2023P+: Extended Textual Conditioning in Text-to-Image Generationcited by 242
  10. 2017Learning to Predict Indoor Illumination from a Single Imagecited by 160
  11. 2024Fine-Tuning Image-Conditional Diffusion Models is Easier than You Thinkcited by 82
  12. 2019Fast Spatially-Varying Indoor Lighting Estimationcited by 72
20 more
  1. 2019Rendering Synthetic Objects into Legacy Photographscited by 72
  2. 2019DeepLight: Learning Illumination for Unconstrained Mobile Mixed Realitycited by 63
  3. 2023DiffusionLight: Light Probes for Free by Painting a Chrome Ballcited by 63
  4. 2022StyleLight: HDR Panorama Generation for Lighting Estimation and Editingcited by 59
  5. 2019Handheld Mobile Photography in Very Low Lightcited by 56
  6. 2016Deep Outdoor Illumination Estimationcited by 53
  7. 2016Fast Fourier Color Constancycited by 37
  8. 2015Convolutional Color Constancycited by 36
  9. 2022Guided Co-Modulated GAN for 360deg Field of View Extrapolationcited by 32
  10. 2023EverLight: Indoor-Outdoor Editable HDR Lighting Estimationcited by 32
  11. 2020Cross-Camera Convolutional Color Constancycited by 30
  12. 2021CLCC: Contrastive Learning for Color Constancycited by 29
  13. 2019On Finding Gray Pixelscited by 26
  14. 2019Cascading Convolutional Color Constancycited by 22
  15. 2015Color Constancy Using CNNscited by 21
  16. 2019Sensor-Independent Illumination Estimation for DNN Modelscited by 18
  17. 2018Learning to Estimate Indoor Lighting from 3D Objectscited by 17
  18. 2018Faces as Lighting Probes via Unsupervised Deep Highlight Extractioncited by 11
  19. 2015Color Constancy by Learning to Predict Chromaticity from Luminancecited by 3
  20. 2016Improving Color Constancy by Discounting the Variation of Camera Spectral Sensitivitycited by 3

Built on by

Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2025: 3; 2026: 5.

8 papers.

  1. 2026White-Balance First, Adjust Later: Cross-Camera Color Constancy via Vision-Language Evaluationcited by 3
  2. 2025Perception-Inspired Color Space Design for Photo White Balance Editingcited by 2
  3. 2026RL-AWB: Deep Reinforcement Learning for Auto White Balance Correction in Low-Light Night-time Scenescited by 2
  4. 2025Off the Planckian Locus: Using 2D Chromaticity to Improve In-Camera Colorcited by 1
  5. 2025Every Camera Effect, Every Time, All at Once: 4D Gaussian Ray Tracing for Physics-based Camera Effect Data Generationcited by 0
  6. 2026Single-Shot HDR Recovery via a Video Diffusion Priorcited by 0
  7. 2026SAFE: Scene-Aware Feature Modulation for Color Constancy with Learned Color Space in Pure-Color Scenescited by 0
  8. 2026The Camera Inside the Editor: Reading the Implicit Camera of Image Editors with Painted Calibration Patternscited by 0

Similar, not cited

Close in wording, no citation either way

  1. 2026Inference-Time Loss-Guided Colour Preservation in Diffusion Sampling
  2. 2024Multimodal Semantic-Aware Automatic Colorization with Diffusion Prior
  3. 2025Color Alignment in Diffusion
  4. 2025Consistent Video Colorization via Palette Guidance
  5. 2021Generative Probabilistic Image Colorization
  6. 2026Learning Illumination Control in Diffusion Models
  7. 2023Dequantization and Color Transfer with Diffusion Models
  8. 2025Palette Aligned Image Diffusion