# CrimEdit: Controllable Editing for Counterfactual Object Removal, Insertion, and Movement

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.23708 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.23708/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 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 33 of its 39 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 28 Sep 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 33)

- [Learning Transferable Visual Models From Natural Language Supervision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.00020/) (2021)
- [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)
- [Emerging Properties in Self-Supervised Vision Transformers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.14294/) (2021)
- [Scalable Diffusion Models with Transformers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.09748/) (2022)
- [Classifier-Free Diffusion Guidance](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.12598/) (2022)
- [SDXL: Improving Latent Diffusion Models for High-Resolution Image Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.01952/) (2023)
- [RePaint: Inpainting using Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.09865/) (2022)
- [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)
- [AnyDoor: Zero-shot Object-level Image Customization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.09481/) (2023)
- [Guiding a Diffusion Model with a Bad Version of Itself](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.02507/) (2024)
- [Playground v2.5: Three Insights towards Enhancing Aesthetic Quality in Text-to-Image Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.17245/) (2024)
- [BrushNet: A Plug-and-Play Image Inpainting Model with Decomposed Dual-Branch Diffusion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.06976/) (2024)
- [DragonDiffusion: Enabling Drag-style Manipulation on Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.02421/) (2023)
- [A Task is Worth One Word: Learning with Task Prompts for High-Quality Versatile Image Inpainting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.03594/) (2023)
- [Self-Rectifying Diffusion Sampling with Perturbed-Attention Guidance](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.17377/) (2024)
- [Neural Gaffer: Relighting Any Object via Diffusion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.07520/) (2024)
- [DiffEditor: Boosting Accuracy and Flexibility on Diffusion-based Image Editing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.02583/) (2024)
- [ObjectDrop: Bootstrapping Counterfactuals for Photorealistic Object Removal and Insertion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.18818/) (2024)
- [Attentive Eraser: Unleashing Diffusion Model's Object Removal Potential via Self-Attention Redirection Guidance](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.12974/) (2024)
- [Rethinking the Spatial Inconsistency in Classifier-Free Diffusion Guidance](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.05384/) (2024)
- [Magic Fixup: Streamlining Photo Editing by Watching Dynamic Videos](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.13044/) (2024)
- [OmniEraser: Remove Objects and Their Effects in Images with Paired Video-Frame Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.07397/) (2025)
- [ObjectMover: Generative Object Movement with Video Prior](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.08037/) (2025)
- [Self-Guidance: Boosting Flow and Diffusion Generation on Their Own](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.05827/) (2024)
- [RORem: Training a Robust Object Remover with Human-in-the-Loop](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.00740/) (2025)
- [CLIPAway: Harmonizing Focused Embeddings for Removing Objects via Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.09368/) (2024)
- [Magicremover: Tuning-free Text-guided Image inpainting with Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.02848/) (2023)
- [FreeCompose: Generic Zero-Shot Image Composition with Diffusion Prior](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.04947/) (2024)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [SpatialDiff: 3D-Aware Object Movement via Implicit Spatial Modeling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.21776/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Recent works on object removal and insertion have enhanced their performance by handling object effects such as shadows and reflections, using diffusion models trained on counterfactual datasets. However, the performance impact of applying classifier-free guidance to handle object effects across removal and insertion tasks within a unified model remains largely unexplored. To address this gap and improve efficiency in composite editing, we propose CrimEdit, which jointly trains the task embeddings for removal and insertion within a single model and leverages them in a classifier-free guidance scheme -- enhancing the removal of both objects and their effects, and enabling controllable synthesis of object effects during insertion. CrimEdit also extends these two task prompts to be applied to spatially distinct regions, enabling object movement (repositioning) within a single denoising step. By employing both guidance techniques, extensive experiments show that CrimEdit achieves superior object removal, controllable effect insertion, and efficient object movement without requiring additional training or separate removal and insertion stages.