aiqbench analysis
This research introduces a hybrid framework that leverages frozen features from a pretrained WGAN-GP to stabilize and enhance conditional diffusion models for image restoration tasks. By addressing specific instability sources like learning-rate imbalance, the method achieves measurable gains in PSNR for both denoising and super-resolution without requiring iterative sampling during the feature extraction phase. The work highlights a promising direction for combining generative adversarial networks with diffusion architectures to improve efficiency and quality in computer vision applications.
GAN-Diff: Coupling Pretrained WGAN-GP Features with Conditional Diffusion U-Nets
arXiv:2608.22272v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Generative adversarial networks (GANs) can provide efficient image generation, while diffusion models offer high-quality image restoration but require iterative sampling. This paper presents a hybrid GAN-guided diffusion framework that uses a pretrained Wasserstein GAN with gradient penalty (WGAN-GP) as a feature prior for conditional diffusion-based image restoration. Intermediate features from the frozen WGAN-GP generator are incorporated into a diffusion U-Net through cross-attention and remain fixed during the DDIM sampling process. The framework is evaluated on two restoration tasks, Gaussian denoising and 2Xsuper-resolution, using CelebA face images. During development, several sources of instability were identified and addressed, including adversarial learning-rate imbalance, inappropriate diffusion initialization, excessive corruption, and insufficient parameter averaging. The resulting framework consistently improves the quality of both degraded and low-resolution images. In particular, it improves denoising performance by 4.40 dB in PSNR and super-resolution performance by 3.70 dB over their respective input baselines. These results demonstrate the potential of a frozen GAN feature prior to guide diffusion models toward stable and effective image restoration.
Abstract:Generative adversarial networks (GANs) can provide efficient image generation, while diffusion models offer high-quality image restoration but require iterative sampling. This paper presents a hybrid GAN-guided diffusion framework that uses a pretrained Wasserstein GAN with gradient penalty (WGAN-GP) as a feature prior for conditional diffusion-based image restoration. Intermediate features from the frozen WGAN-GP generator are incorporated into a diffusion U-Net through cross-attention and remain fixed during the DDIM sampling process. The framework is evaluated on two restoration tasks, Gaussian denoising and 2Xsuper-resolution, using CelebA face images. During development, several sources of instability were identified and addressed, including adversarial learning-rate imbalance, inappropriate diffusion initialization, excessive corruption, and insufficient parameter averaging. The resulting framework consistently improves the quality of both degraded and low-resolution images. In particular, it improves denoising performance by 4.40 dB in PSNR and super-resolution performance by 3.70 dB over their respective input baselines. These results demonstrate the potential of a frozen GAN feature prior to guide diffusion models toward stable and effective image restoration.
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (cs.CV); Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI); Machine Learning (cs.LG)
arXiv:2608.22272 [cs.CV]
(or arXiv:2608.22272v1 [cs.CV] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2608.22272 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)
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