mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

Multi-party Collaborative Attention Control for Image Customization

arXiv 2505.01428 ↗First posted 2 Apr 2025cs.CVcited by 6

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

Abstract (arXiv)

The rapid advancement of diffusion models has increased the need for customized image generation. However, current customization methods face several limitations: 1) typically accept either image or text conditions alone; 2) customization in complex visual scenarios often leads to subject leakage or confusion; 3) image-conditioned outputs tend to suffer from inconsistent backgrounds; and 4) high computational costs. To address these issues, this paper introduces Multi-party Collaborative Attention Control (MCA-Ctrl), a tuning-free method that enables high-quality image customization using both text and complex visual conditions. Specifically, MCA-Ctrl leverages two key operations within the self-attention layer to coordinate multiple parallel diffusion processes and guide the target image generation. This approach allows MCA-Ctrl to capture the content and appearance of specific subjects while maintaining semantic consistency with the conditional input. Additionally, to mitigate subject leakage and confusion issues common in complex visual scenarios, we introduce a Subject Localization Module that extracts precise subject and editable image layers based on user instructions. Extensive quantitative and human evaluation experiments show that MCA-Ctrl outperforms existing methods in zero-shot image customization, effectively resolving the mentioned issues.

Key facts. Cited by 6 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 34 of its 37 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 2 Apr 2025.

Builds on

34 of 37 references.

Closest ancestors · 11

Same direction, newest first

  1. 2024Tuning-Free Image Customization with Image and Text Guidance19 Mar
  2. 2023Ranni: Taming Text-to-Image Diffusion for Accurate Instruction Following28 Nov
  3. 2023IP-Adapter: Text Compatible Image Prompt Adapter for Text-to-Image Diffusion Models13 Aug
  4. 2023Adding Conditional Control to Text-to-Image Diffusion Models10 Feb
  5. 2022Multi-Concept Customization of Text-to-Image Diffusion8 Dec
  6. 2022InstructPix2Pix: Learning to Follow Image Editing Instructions17 Nov
  7. 2022DiffEdit: Diffusion-based semantic image editing with mask guidance20 Oct
  8. 2022DreamBooth: Fine Tuning Text-to-Image Diffusion Models for Subject-Driven Generation25 Aug
  9. 2022Photorealistic Text-to-Image Diffusion Models with Deep Language Understanding23 May
  10. 2022Hierarchical Text-Conditional Image Generation with CLIP Latents13 Apr
  11. 2021GLIDE: Towards Photorealistic Image Generation and Editing with Text-Guided Diffusion Models20 Dec

Other references · 23

  1. 2017Attention Is All You Needcited by 59,932
  2. 2021Learning Transferable Visual Models From Natural Language Supervisioncited by 33,456
  3. 2021High-Resolution Image Synthesis with Latent Diffusion Modelscited by 18,694
  4. 2020Denoising Diffusion Implicit Modelscited by 9,655
  5. 2023Segment Anythingcited by 8,158
  6. 2021Emerging Properties in Self-Supervised Vision Transformerscited by 6,893
  7. 2022Classifier-Free Diffusion Guidancecited by 5,717
  8. 2023SDXL: Improving Latent Diffusion Models for High-Resolution Image Synthesiscited by 4,290
  9. 2023Grounding DINO: Marrying DINO with Grounded Pre-Training for Open-Set Object Detectioncited by 3,274
  10. 2022Prompt-to-Prompt Image Editing with Cross Attention Controlcited by 2,409
  11. 2022An Image is Worth One Word: Personalizing Text-to-Image Generation using Textual Inversioncited by 2,231
  12. 2023MasaCtrl: Tuning-Free Mutual Self-Attention Control for Consistent Image Synthesis and Editingcited by 722
11 more
  1. 2023BLIP-Diffusion: Pre-trained Subject Representation for Controllable Text-to-Image Generation and Editingcited by 438
  2. 2023Subject-driven Text-to-Image Generation via Apprenticeship Learningcited by 210
  3. 2022Re-Imagen: Retrieval-Augmented Text-to-Image Generatorcited by 208
  4. 2023CLIP-KD: An Empirical Study of CLIP Model Distillationcited by 87
  5. 2024Instruct-Imagen: Image Generation with Multi-modal Instructioncited by 65
  6. 2024FreeCustom: Tuning-Free Customized Image Generation for Multi-Concept Compositioncited by 49
  7. 2023Photoswap: Personalized Subject Swapping in Imagescited by 47
  8. 2024RealCustom: Narrowing Real Text Word for Real-Time Open-Domain Text-to-Image Customizationcited by 39
  9. 2023DreamEdit: Subject-driven Image Editingcited by 37
  10. 2024Relational Diffusion Distillation for Efficient Image Generationcited by 24
  11. 2024MPQ-DM: Mixed Precision Quantization for Extremely Low Bit Diffusion Modelscited by 20

Built on by

Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2025: 4; 2026: 2.

6 papers.

Similar, not cited

Close in wording, no citation either way

  1. 2026MS-CustomNet: Controllable Multi-Subject Customization with Hierarchical Relational Semantics
  2. 2026Redirecting the Flow: Image Customization through Attention Distribution Shift
  3. 2025AnyMS: Bottom-up Attention Decoupling for Layout-guided and Training-free Multi-subject Customization
  4. 2025FocusDPO: Dynamic Preference Optimization for Multi-Subject Personalized Image Generation via Adaptive Focus
  5. 2024Tuning-Free Visual Customization via View Iterative Self-Attention Control
  6. 2025MVCustom: Multi-View Customized Diffusion via Geometric Latent Rendering and Completion
  7. 2025In-Context Brush: Zero-shot Customized Subject Insertion with Context-Aware Latent Space Manipulation
  8. 2023FastComposer: Tuning-Free Multi-Subject Image Generation with Localized Attention