# VCG-Bench: Towards A Unified Visual-Centric Benchmark for Structured Generation and Editing

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.15677 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.15677/

## Key facts

- Cited by 9 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Chart understanding and anomaly detection, one of 16 directions in Multimodal LLMs / vision-language models.
- Builds on 57 of its 73 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 15 May 2026.

## Placed in

- Multimodal LLMs / vision-language models / [Chart understanding and anomaly detection](https://mlsanity.com/mllm/chart-understanding-and-anomaly-detection/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 57)

- [High-Resolution Image Synthesis with Latent Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.10752/) (2021)
- [GPT-4 Technical Report](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.08774/) (2023)
- [Evaluating Large Language Models Trained on Code](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.03374/) (2021)
- [Adding Conditional Control to Text-to-Image Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.05543/) (2023)
- [Improved Baselines with Visual Instruction Tuning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.03744/) (2023)
- [SDXL: Improving Latent Diffusion Models for High-Resolution Image Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.01952/) (2023)
- [Qwen2-VL: Enhancing Vision-Language Model's Perception of the World at Any Resolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.12191/) (2024)
- [InstructPix2Pix: Learning to Follow Image Editing Instructions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.09800/) (2022)
- [VQA: Visual Question Answering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1505.00468/) (2015)
- [Prompt-to-Prompt Image Editing with Cross Attention Control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.01626/) (2022)
- [Code Llama: Open Foundation Models for Code](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.12950/) (2023)
- [MMMU: A Massive Multi-discipline Multimodal Understanding and Reasoning Benchmark for Expert AGI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.16502/) (2023)
- [Expanding Performance Boundaries of Open-Source Multimodal Models with Model, Data, and Test-Time Scaling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.05271/) (2024)
- [ChartQA: A Benchmark for Question Answering about Charts with Visual and Logical Reasoning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.10244/) (2022)
- [MM-Vet: Evaluating Large Multimodal Models for Integrated Capabilities](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.02490/) (2023)
- [Instruction-Following Evaluation for Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.07911/) (2023)
- [DeepSeek-Coder: When the Large Language Model Meets Programming -- The Rise of Code Intelligence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.14196/) (2024)
- [Qwen-Image Technical Report](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.02324/) (2025)
- [Are We on the Right Way for Evaluating Large Vision-Language Models?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.20330/) (2024)
- [DeepSeek-V3.2: Pushing the Frontier of Open Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.02556/) (2025)
- [A Diagram Is Worth A Dozen Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1603.07396/) (2016)
- [StarCoder: may the source be with you!](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.06161/) (2023)
- [MagicBrush: A Manually Annotated Dataset for Instruction-Guided Image Editing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.10012/) (2023)
- [Kimi K2: Open Agentic Intelligence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.20534/) (2025)
- [MMMU-Pro: A More Robust Multi-discipline Multimodal Understanding Benchmark](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.02813/) (2024)
- [StarCoder 2 and The Stack v2: The Next Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.19173/) (2024)
- [FigureQA: An Annotated Figure Dataset for Visual Reasoning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1710.07300/) (2017)
- [CharXiv: Charting Gaps in Realistic Chart Understanding in Multimodal LLMs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.18521/) (2024)
- [LVLM-eHub: A Comprehensive Evaluation Benchmark for Large Vision-Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.09265/) (2023)
- [DeepSVG: A Hierarchical Generative Network for Vector Graphics Animation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.11301/) (2020)

## Built on by (most cited first, 9 of 9)

- [DataMagic: Transforming Tabular Data into Data Insight Video](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.20388/) (2026)
- [DrawAI: Agentic Benchmark and Workflow for Making Raster Images Editable](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.00548/) (2026)
- [Edit2TikZ: A Comprehensive and Challenging Benchmark for Scientific Figure Editing with TikZ](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.13441/) (2026)
- [DataMagic: Authoring Data Videos through Declarative Multi-Agent Orchestration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.33403/) (2026)
- [ReFigBench: Benchmarking Scientific Figure Reconstruction as Editable PowerPoint Artifacts](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.18844/) (2026)
- [InfoEdit: Probing Global Layout Reasoning in Infographic Editing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.33286/) (2026)
- [Beyond Plausibility: Verifiable Fine-Grained Image Editing on Structured Assets](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.04381/) (2026)
- [Knossos and Ariadne: Benchmarking and Learning Complete Diagram Topology Extraction with Vision-Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.04721/) (2026)
- [One Figure, Every Canvas: Editable Flowchart Relayout via Agentic Pipeline](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.06852/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Despite the rapid advancements in Vision-Language Models (VLMs), a critical gap remains in their ability to handle structured, controllable diagrammatic tasks essential for professional workflows. Existing methods predominantly rely on pixel-based synthesis, which operates in probabilistic pixel spaces and is inherently limited in editability and fidelity. Instead, we propose a new Diagram-as-Code paradigm with symbolic logic that leverages mxGraph Extensible Markup Language (XML) for precise diagram generation and editing. We present VCG-Bench, a unified benchmark for visual-centric textttmxGraph tasks. VCG-Bench comprises: (1) a taxonomized dataset of 1,449 diverse diagrams spanning 6 domains and 15 sub-domains, (2) a paradigm definition that integrates Generation (Vision-to-Code) and Editability (Code-to-Code), (3) a Tailored Evaluation Protocol employing multi-dimensional metrics such as textttmxGraph Execution Success Rate, Style Consistency Score (SCS), etc. Experimental results highlight the challenges faced by current State-of-the-Art (SOTA) VLMs in structured fidelity and instruction compliance, reflecting their vision and reasoning capabilities.