# Can We Change the Stroke Size for Easier Diffusion?

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.26783 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.26783/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Diffusion foundations and sampling, one of 14 directions in Diffusion models.
- Builds on 31 of its 37 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 25 Mar 2026.

## Placed in

- Diffusion models / [Diffusion foundations and sampling](https://mlsanity.com/diffusion/diffusion-foundations-and-sampling/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 31)

- [Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.11239/) (2020)
- [High-Resolution Image Synthesis with Latent Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.10752/) (2021)
- [Denoising Diffusion Implicit Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.02502/) (2020)
- [Score-Based Generative Modeling through Stochastic Differential Equations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.13456/) (2020)
- [Diffusion Models Beat GANs on Image Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.05233/) (2021)
- [A Style-Based Generator Architecture for Generative Adversarial Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.04948/) (2018)
- [Classifier-Free Diffusion Guidance](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.12598/) (2022)
- [Rethinking the Inception Architecture for Computer Vision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1512.00567/) (2015)
- [Improved Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.09672/) (2021)
- [Deep Learning Face Attributes in the Wild](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1411.7766/) (2014)
- [Elucidating the Design Space of Diffusion-Based Generative Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.00364/) (2022)
- [Improved Techniques for Training GANs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1606.03498/) (2016)
- [DPM-Solver: A Fast ODE Solver for Diffusion Probabilistic Model Sampling in Around 10 Steps](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.00927/) (2022)
- [Consistency Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.01469/) (2023)
- [Image Super-Resolution via Iterative Refinement](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.07636/) (2021)
- [Cascaded Diffusion Models for High Fidelity Image Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.15282/) (2021)
- [Variational Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.00630/) (2021)
- [Score-based Generative Modeling in Latent Space](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.05931/) (2021)
- [Fast Sampling of Diffusion Models with Exponential Integrator](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.13902/) (2022)
- [Efficient Diffusion Training via Min-SNR Weighting Strategy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.09556/) (2023)
- [A Note on the Inception Score](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1801.01973/) (2018)
- [Pros and Cons of GAN Evaluation Measures](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1802.03446/) (2018)
- [FreeU: Free Lunch in Diffusion U-Net](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.11497/) (2023)
- [Diffusion Models are Minimax Optimal Distribution Estimators](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.01861/) (2023)
- [Fourier Spectrum Discrepancies in Deep Network Generated Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1911.06465/) (2019)
- [Soft Diffusion: Score Matching for General Corruptions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.05442/) (2022)
- [Diffusion Models With Learned Adaptive Noise](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.13236/) (2023)
- [Coarse-to-Fine Latent Diffusion for Pose-Guided Person Image Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.18078/) (2024)
- [Denoising Task Difficulty-based Curriculum for Training Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.10348/) (2024)
- [Immiscible Diffusion: Accelerating Diffusion Training with Noise Assignment](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.12303/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Deep-learning-based image generation is increasingly useful but expensive. Across the different timesteps in the denoising chain, high-noise timesteps present distinct optimization and prediction challenges, which can increase the cost of real-world applications. Inspired by the varying stroke sizes used in human painting, in this work, we ask whether a similar stroke-size variation (i.e., rough stroke applied early) in diffusion can simplify existing image-generation algorithms. We subsequently develop the MultiStroke operator, which linearly interpolates coarse and fine strokes in a coarse-to-fine manner to potentially simplify the prediction target, especially at high-noise timesteps. Across DDPM and flow-matching models trained from scratch, MultiStroke achieves an FID reduction of up to 70.2%. A quick video is at https://wendybaiyunwei.github.io/MultiStroke-Web/.