mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

Canvas-to-Image: Compositional Image Generation with Multimodal Controls

arXiv 2511.21691 ↗First posted 26 Nov 2025cs.CVcited by 5

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

Abstract (arXiv)

While modern diffusion models excel at generating high-quality and diverse images, they still struggle with high-fidelity compositional and multimodal control, particularly when users simultaneously specify text prompts, subject references, spatial arrangements, pose constraints, and layout annotations. We introduce Canvas-to-Image, a unified framework that consolidates these heterogeneous controls into a single canvas interface, enabling users to generate images that faithfully reflect their intent. Our key idea is to encode diverse control signals into a single composite canvas image that the model can directly interpret for integrated visual-spatial reasoning. We further curate a suite of multi-task datasets and propose a Multi-Task Canvas Training strategy that optimizes the diffusion model to jointly understand and integrate heterogeneous controls into text-to-image generation within a unified learning paradigm. This joint training enables Canvas-to-Image to reason across multiple control modalities rather than relying on task-specific heuristics, and it generalizes well to multi-control scenarios during inference. Extensive experiments show that Canvas-to-Image significantly outperforms state-of-the-art methods in identity preservation and control adherence across challenging benchmarks, including multi-person composition, pose-controlled composition, layout-constrained generation, and multi-control generation.

Key facts. Cited by 5 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 51 of its 58 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 26 Nov 2025.

Builds on

51 of 58 references.

Closest ancestors · 21

Same direction, newest first

  1. 2025FLUX.1 Kontext: Flow Matching for In-Context Image Generation and Editing in Latent Space17 Jun
  2. 2025LoRAShop: Training-Free Multi-Concept Image Generation and Editing with Rectified Flow Transformers29 May
  3. 2025CreatiDesign: A Unified Multi-Conditional Diffusion Transformer for Creative Graphic Design25 May
  4. 2025TokenVerse: Versatile Multi-concept Personalization in Token Modulation Space21 Jan
  5. 2024EMMA: Your Text-to-Image Diffusion Model Can Secretly Accept Multi-Modal Prompts13 Jun
  6. 2024MoA: Mixture-of-Attention for Subject-Context Disentanglement in Personalized Image Generation17 Apr
  7. 2024OMG: Occlusion-friendly Personalized Multi-concept Generation in Diffusion Models16 Mar
  8. 2024InstantID: Zero-shot Identity-Preserving Generation in Seconds15 Jan
  9. 2023Orthogonal Adaptation for Modular Customization of Diffusion Models5 Dec
  10. 2023IP-Adapter: Text Compatible Image Prompt Adapter for Text-to-Image Diffusion Models13 Aug
  11. 2023Uni-ControlNet: All-in-One Control to Text-to-Image Diffusion Models25 May
  12. 2023UniControl: A Unified Diffusion Model for Controllable Visual Generation In the Wild18 May
9 more
  1. 2023FastComposer: Tuning-Free Multi-Subject Image Generation with Localized Attention17 May
  2. 2023LayoutDiffusion: Controllable Diffusion Model for Layout-to-image Generation30 Mar
  3. 2023T2I-Adapter: Learning Adapters to Dig out More Controllable Ability for Text-to-Image Diffusion Models16 Feb
  4. 2023Adding Conditional Control to Text-to-Image Diffusion Models10 Feb
  5. 2023GLIGEN: Open-Set Grounded Text-to-Image Generation17 Jan
  6. 2022Multi-Concept Customization of Text-to-Image Diffusion8 Dec
  7. 2022DreamBooth: Fine Tuning Text-to-Image Diffusion Models for Subject-Driven Generation25 Aug
  8. 2022Photorealistic Text-to-Image Diffusion Models with Deep Language Understanding23 May
  9. 2022Hierarchical Text-Conditional Image Generation with CLIP Latents13 Apr

Other references · 30

  1. 2020Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Modelscited by 20,851
  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. 2020Denoising Diffusion Implicit Modelscited by 9,655
  5. 2023DINOv2: Learning Robust Visual Features without Supervisioncited by 7,764
  6. 2018A Style-Based Generator Architecture for Generative Adversarial Networkscited by 5,986
  7. 2022Scalable Diffusion Models with Transformerscited by 5,931
  8. 2023SDXL: Improving Latent Diffusion Models for High-Resolution Image Synthesiscited by 4,290
  9. 2024Qwen2-VL: Enhancing Vision-Language Model's Perception of the World at Any Resolutioncited by 4,151
  10. 2024Scaling Rectified Flow Transformers for High-Resolution Image Synthesiscited by 4,094
  11. 2025Gemini 2.5: Pushing the Frontier with Advanced Reasoning, Multimodality, Long Context, and Next Generation Agentic Capabilitiescited by 3,655
  12. 2022An Image is Worth One Word: Personalizing Text-to-Image Generation using Textual Inversioncited by 2,231
18 more
  1. 2018OpenPose: Realtime Multi-Person 2D Pose Estimation using Part Affinity Fieldscited by 1,161
  2. 2025Qwen-Image Technical Reportcited by 973
  3. 2025Emerging Properties in Unified Multimodal Pretrainingcited by 855
  4. 2024Evaluating Text-to-Visual Generation with Image-to-Text Generationcited by 465
  5. 2023Break-A-Scene: Extracting Multiple Concepts from a Single Imagecited by 230
  6. 2025HPSv3: Towards Wide-Spectrum Human Preference Scorecited by 196
  7. 2025Less-to-More Generalization: Unlocking More Controllability by In-Context Generationcited by 153
  8. 2024PuLID: Pure and Lightning ID Customization via Contrastive Alignmentcited by 143
  9. 2025DreamO: A Unified Framework for Image Customizationcited by 82
  10. 2025Multi-subject Open-set Personalization in Video Generationcited by 65
  11. 2024UniPortrait: A Unified Framework for Identity-Preserving Single- and Multi-Human Image Personalizationcited by 46
  12. 2024StoryMaker: Towards Holistic Consistent Characters in Text-to-image Generationcited by 27
  13. 2025Nested Attention: Semantic-aware Attention Values for Concept Personalizationcited by 21
  14. 2024Omni-ID: Holistic Identity Representation Designed for Generative Taskscited by 18
  15. 2024ID-Patch: Robust ID Association for Group Photo Personalizationcited by 11
  16. 2025ComposeMe: Attribute-Specific Image Prompts for Controllable Human Image Generationcited by 7
  17. 2025Preventing Shortcuts in Adapter Training via Providing the Shortcutscited by 4
  18. 2025CanvasComposer: Personalized Group Photo Generation via a Multi-Reference Canvascited by 3

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Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2025: 1; 2026: 4.

5 papers.

Similar, not cited

Close in wording, no citation either way

  1. 2023LeftRefill: Filling Right Canvas based on Left Reference through Generalized Text-to-Image Diffusion Model
  2. 2024AnyControl: Create Your Artwork with Versatile Control on Text-to-Image Generation
  3. 2023Masked-Attention Diffusion Guidance for Spatially Controlling Text-to-Image Generation
  4. 2024ReCorD: Reasoning and Correcting Diffusion for HOI Generation
  5. 2022Training-Free Structured Diffusion Guidance for Compositional Text-to-Image Synthesis
  6. 2026When Do Diffusion Models learn to Generate Multiple Objects?
  7. 2026CoCo: Code as CoT for Text-to-Image Preview and Rare Concept Generation
  8. 2025Universal Few-Shot Spatial Control for Diffusion Models