# GCC: Generative Color Constancy via Diffusing a Color Checker

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.17435 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.17435/

## Key facts

- Cited by 8 papers in the map (data through 14 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.

## Placed in

- Diffusion models / [Image generation, text-to-image and editing](https://mlsanity.com/diffusion/image-generation-text-to-image-and-editing/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 40)

- [U-Net: Convolutional Networks for Biomedical Image Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1505.04597/) (2015)
- [High-Resolution Image Synthesis with Latent Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.10752/) (2021)
- [LoRA: Low-Rank Adaptation of Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.09685/) (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)
- [Adding Conditional Control to Text-to-Image Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.05543/) (2023)
- [DreamBooth: Fine Tuning Text-to-Image Diffusion Models for Subject-Driven Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.12242/) (2022)
- [An Image is Worth One Word: Personalizing Text-to-Image Generation using Textual Inversion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.01618/) (2022)
- [IP-Adapter: Text Compatible Image Prompt Adapter for Text-to-Image Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.06721/) (2023)
- [Variational Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.00630/) (2021)
- [Blended Diffusion for Text-driven Editing of Natural Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.14818/) (2021)
- [Paint by Example: Exemplar-based Image Editing with Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.13227/) (2022)
- [Blended Latent Diffusion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.02779/) (2022)
- [SVDiff: Compact Parameter Space for Diffusion Fine-Tuning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.11305/) (2023)
- [Common Diffusion Noise Schedules and Sample Steps are Flawed](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.08891/) (2023)
- [P+: Extended Textual Conditioning in Text-to-Image Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.09522/) (2023)
- [Controlling Text-to-Image Diffusion by Orthogonal Finetuning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.07280/) (2023)
- [Learning to Predict Indoor Illumination from a Single Image](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1704.00090/) (2017)
- [Fine-Tuning Image-Conditional Diffusion Models is Easier than You Think](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.11355/) (2024)
- [Fast Spatially-Varying Indoor Lighting Estimation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1906.03799/) (2019)
- [Rendering Synthetic Objects into Legacy Photographs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.11565/) (2019)
- [DiffusionLight: Light Probes for Free by Painting a Chrome Ball](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.09168/) (2023)
- [DeepLight: Learning Illumination for Unconstrained Mobile Mixed Reality](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.01175/) (2019)
- [StyleLight: HDR Panorama Generation for Lighting Estimation and Editing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.14811/) (2022)
- [Handheld Mobile Photography in Very Low Light](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.11336/) (2019)
- [Deep Outdoor Illumination Estimation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1611.06403/) (2016)
- [Fast Fourier Color Constancy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1611.07596/) (2016)
- [Convolutional Color Constancy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1507.00410/) (2015)
- [Guided Co-Modulated GAN for 360deg Field of View Extrapolation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.07286/) (2022)
- [EverLight: Indoor-Outdoor Editable HDR Lighting Estimation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.13207/) (2023)

## Built on by (most cited first, 8 of 8)

- [White-Balance First, Adjust Later: Cross-Camera Color Constancy via Vision-Language Evaluation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.19613/) (2026)
- [Perception-Inspired Color Space Design for Photo White Balance Editing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.09383/) (2025)
- [RL-AWB: Deep Reinforcement Learning for Auto White Balance Correction in Low-Light Night-time Scenes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.05249/) (2026)
- [Off the Planckian Locus: Using 2D Chromaticity to Improve In-Camera Color](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.17133/) (2025)
- [The Camera Inside the Editor: Reading the Implicit Camera of Image Editors with Painted Calibration Patterns](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.37732/) (2026)
- [Every Camera Effect, Every Time, All at Once: 4D Gaussian Ray Tracing for Physics-based Camera Effect Data Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.10759/) (2025)
- [Single-Shot HDR Recovery via a Video Diffusion Prior](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.11628/) (2026)
- [SAFE: Scene-Aware Feature Modulation for Color Constancy with Learned Color Space in Pure-Color Scenes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.13967/) (2026)

## 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.