Diffusion Self-Guidance for Controllable Image Generation

Large-scale generative models are capable of producing high-quality images from detailed text descriptions. However, many aspects of an image are difficult or impossible to convey through text. We introduce self-guidance, a method that provides greater control over generated images by guiding the internal representations of diffusion models. We demonstrate that properties such as the shape, location, and appearance of objects can be extracted from these representations and used to steer the sampling process. Self-guidance operates similarly to standard classifier guidance, but uses signals present in the pretrained model itself, requiring no additional models or training. We show how a simple set of properties can be composed to perform challenging image manipulations, such as modifying the position or size of specific objects, merging the appearance of objects in one image with the layout of another, composing objects from multiple images into one, and more. We also show that self-guidance can be used for editing real images. See our project page for results and an interactive demo: https://dave.ml/selfguidance