A training-free framework for high-fidelity appearance transfer via diffusion transformers
On the map: Diffusion models → Image generation, text-to-image and editing
Abstract (arXiv)
Diffusion Transformers (DiTs) excel at generation, but their global self-attention makes controllable, reference-image-based editing a distinct challenge. Unlike U-Nets, naively injecting local appearance into a DiT can disrupt its holistic scene structure. We address this by proposing the first training-free framework specifically designed to tame DiTs for high-fidelity appearance transfer. Our core is a synergistic system that disentangles structure and appearance. We leverage high-fidelity inversion to establish a rich content prior for the source image, capturing its lighting and micro-textures. A novel attention-sharing mechanism then dynamically fuses purified appearance features from a reference, guided by geometric priors. Our unified approach operates at 1024px and outperforms specialized methods on tasks ranging from semantic attribute transfer to fine-grained material application. Extensive experiments confirm our state-of-the-art performance in both structural preservation and appearance fidelity.
Key facts. No citing papers in the map yet (data through 7 Oct 2026). Placed in Image generation, text-to-image and editing, one of 14 directions in Diffusion models. Builds on 20 of its 21 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 24 Mar 2026.
Builds on
20 of 21 references.
Closest ancestors · 8
Same direction, newest first
- 2025FreeCus: Free Lunch Subject-driven Customization in Diffusion Transformers21 Jul
- 2024FireFlow: Fast Inversion of Rectified Flow for Image Semantic Editing10 Dec
- 2024Stable Flow: Vital Layers for Training-Free Image Editing21 Nov
- 2024Taming Rectified Flow for Inversion and Editing7 Nov
- 2024Eye-for-an-eye: Appearance Transfer with Semantic Correspondence in Diffusion Models11 Jun
- 2024DiffEditor: Boosting Accuracy and Flexibility on Diffusion-based Image Editing4 Feb
- 2023Adding Conditional Control to Text-to-Image Diffusion Models10 Feb
- 2022Null-text Inversion for Editing Real Images using Guided Diffusion Models17 Nov
Other references · 12
- 2015U-Net: Convolutional Networks for Biomedical Image Segmentationcited by 19,604
- 2021High-Resolution Image Synthesis with Latent Diffusion Modelscited by 18,694
- 2022Scalable Diffusion Models with Transformerscited by 5,931
- 2024Scaling Rectified Flow Transformers for High-Resolution Image Synthesiscited by 4,094
- 2024Evaluating Text-to-Visual Generation with Image-to-Text Generationcited by 465
- 2023AnyDoor: Zero-shot Object-level Image Customizationcited by 411
- 2022Rectified Flow: A Marginal Preserving Approach to Optimal Transportcited by 277
- 2025Teaching Large Language Models to Regress Accurate Image Quality Scores using Score Distributioncited by 139
- 2023Cross-Image Attention for Zero-Shot Appearance Transfercited by 135
- 2023DreamEdit: Subject-driven Image Editingcited by 37
- 2024ZeST: Zero-Shot Material Transfer from a Single Imagecited by 24
- 2025MaterialFusion: High-Quality, Zero-Shot, and Controllable Material Transfer with Diffusion Modelscited by 10
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- 2025FROMAT: Multiview Material Appearance Transfer via Few-Shot Self-Attention Adaptation
- 2026AccelAes: Accelerating Diffusion Transformers for Training-Free Aesthetic-Enhanced Image Generation
- 2023Fine-grained Appearance Transfer with Diffusion Models
- 2026Appearance Pointers -- Multimodal Region Control of Diffusion Transformers
- 2025OmniRefiner: Reinforcement-Guided Local Diffusion Refinement
- 2026DAGS: Disentangled Appearance-and-Geometry Steering of a Frozen Image DiT for Temporally Stabilized Generative Rendering
- 2026MAST: Mask-Guided Attention Control for Training-Free Regional-Multi Style Transfer
- 2026DuSPiT: Dual-Branch Sub-Patch Pixel Diffusion Transformer