# DiffLocks: Generating 3D Hair from a Single Image using Diffusion Models

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.06166 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.06166/

## Key facts

- Cited by 16 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 34 of its 60 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 9 May 2025.

## 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 34)

- [High-Resolution Image Synthesis with Latent Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.10752/) (2021)
- [DINOv2: Learning Robust Visual Features without Supervision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.07193/) (2023)
- [Classifier-Free Diffusion Guidance](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.12598/) (2022)
- [Improved Baselines with Visual Instruction Tuning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.03744/) (2023)
- [Elucidating the Design Space of Diffusion-Based Generative Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.00364/) (2022)
- [DreamFusion: Text-to-3D using 2D Diffusion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.14988/) (2022)
- [Expressive Body Capture: 3D Hands, Face, and Body from a Single Image](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.05866/) (2019)
- [Zero-1-to-3: Zero-shot One Image to 3D Object](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.11328/) (2023)
- [Efficient Geometry-aware 3D Generative Adversarial Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.07945/) (2021)
- [Wonder3D: Single Image to 3D using Cross-Domain Diffusion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.15008/) (2023)
- [One-2-3-45: Any Single Image to 3D Mesh in 45 Seconds without Per-Shape Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.16928/) (2023)
- [Zero123++: a Single Image to Consistent Multi-view Diffusion Base Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.15110/) (2023)
- [Analyzing and Improving the Training Dynamics of Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.02696/) (2023)
- [RealFusion: 360deg Reconstruction of Any Object from a Single Image](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.10663/) (2023)
- [Fake It Till You Make It: Face analysis in the wild using synthetic data alone](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.15102/) (2021)
- [MeshDiffusion: Score-based Generative 3D Mesh Modeling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.08133/) (2023)
- [NeRDi: Single-View NeRF Synthesis with Language-Guided Diffusion as General Image Priors](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.03267/) (2022)
- [NeuralLift-360: Lifting An In-the-wild 2D Photo to A 3D Object with 360deg Views](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.16431/) (2022)
- [Modulated Periodic Activations for Generalizable Local Functional Representations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.03960/) (2021)
- [Relightable Gaussian Codec Avatars](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.03704/) (2023)
- [Scalable High-Resolution Pixel-Space Image Synthesis with Hourglass Diffusion Transformers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.11605/) (2024)
- [H3D-Net: Few-Shot High-Fidelity 3D Head Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.12512/) (2021)
- [GaussianHair: Hair Modeling and Rendering with Light-aware Gaussians](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.10483/) (2024)
- [Neural Haircut: Prior-Guided Strand-Based Hair Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.05872/) (2023)
- [Neural Strands: Learning Hair Geometry and Appearance from Multi-View Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.14067/) (2022)
- [HairStep: Transfer Synthetic to Real Using Strand and Depth Maps for Single-View 3D Hair Modeling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.02700/) (2023)
- [NeuralHDHair: Automatic High-fidelity Hair Modeling from a Single Image Using Implicit Neural Representations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.04175/) (2022)
- [NeuWigs: A Neural Dynamic Model for Volumetric Hair Capture and Animation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.00613/) (2022)
- [HAAR: Text-Conditioned Generative Model of 3D Strand-based Human Hairstyles](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.11666/) (2023)
- [GroomGen: A High-Quality Generative Hair Model Using Hierarchical Latent Representations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.02062/) (2023)

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

- [Im2Haircut: Single-view Strand-based Hair Reconstruction for Human Avatars](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.01469/) (2025)
- [HairCUP: Hair Compositional Universal Prior for 3D Gaussian Avatars](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.19481/) (2025)
- [CHARM: Control-point-based 3D Anime Hairstyle Auto-Regressive Modeling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.21114/) (2025)
- [NeuralFur: Animal Fur Reconstruction From Multi-View Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.12481/) (2026)
- [Stable-Hair v2: Real-World Hair Transfer via Multiple-View Diffusion Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.07591/) (2025)
- [ControlHair: Synergizing Physics Simulator and Video Diffusion for Controllable Dynamic Hair Rendering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.21541/) (2025)
- [PhysHead: Simulation-Ready Gaussian Head Avatars](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.06467/) (2026)
- [Grounding Intelligence in Movement](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.02771/) (2025)
- [Pix2NPHM: Learning to Regress NPHM Reconstructions From a Single Image](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.17773/) (2025)
- [HairOrbit: Multi-view Aware 3D Hair Modeling from Single Portraits](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.02867/) (2026)
- [CGHair: Compact Gaussian Hair Reconstruction with Card Clustering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.03716/) (2026)
- [FHAvatar: Fast and High-Fidelity Reconstruction of Face-and-Hair Composable 3D Head Avatar from Few Casual Captures](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.23345/) (2026)
- [EfficientMonoHair: Fast Strand-Level Reconstruction from Monocular Video via Multi-View Direction Fusion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.05794/) (2026)
- [Wispy to Voluminous: Prior-free Multi-view Capture of Strand-level Facial Hair](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.08041/) (2026)
- [Head Avatars with Dynamic Explicit Hair](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.23861/) (2026)
- [HairFlow: Modeling 3D Hair Strands with Multi-Modal Conditioned Diffusion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.17348/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We address the task of generating 3D hair geometry from a single image, which is challenging due to the diversity of hairstyles and the lack of paired image-to-3D hair data. Previous methods are primarily trained on synthetic data and cope with the limited amount of such data by using low-dimensional intermediate representations, such as guide strands and scalp-level embeddings, that require post-processing to decode, upsample, and add realism. These approaches fail to reconstruct detailed hair, struggle with curly hair, or are limited to handling only a few hairstyles. To overcome these limitations, we propose DiffLocks, a novel framework that enables detailed reconstruction of a wide variety of hairstyles directly from a single image. First, we address the lack of 3D hair data by automating the creation of the largest synthetic hair dataset to date, containing 40K hairstyles. Second, we leverage the synthetic hair dataset to learn an image-conditioned diffusion-transfomer model that generates accurate 3D strands from a single frontal image. By using a pretrained image backbone, our method generalizes to in-the-wild images despite being trained only on synthetic data. Our diffusion model predicts a scalp texture map in which any point in the map contains the latent code for an individual hair strand. These codes are directly decoded to 3D strands without post-processing techniques. Representing individual strands, instead of guide strands, enables the transformer to model the detailed spatial structure of complex hairstyles. With this, DiffLocks can recover highly curled hair, like afro hairstyles, from a single image for the first time. Data and code is available at https://radualexandru.github.io/difflocks/