Ctrl-Z Sampling: Diffusion Sampling with Controlled Random Zigzag Explorations
Diffusion models have shown strong performance in conditional generation by progressively denoising Gaussian noise toward a target data distribution. This denoising process can be interpreted as a form of hill climbing in a learned latent space, where the model iteratively refines the sample toward regions of higher probability. However, diffusion models often converge to local optima that are locally visually coherent yet globally inconsistent or conditionally misaligned, due to latent space complexity and suboptimal initialization. Prior efforts attempted to address this by strengthening guidance signals or manipulating the initial noise distribution. We introduce Controlled Random Zigzag Sampling (Ctrl-Z Sampling), a novel sampling strategy designed to detect and escape such local maxima during conditional generation. The method first identifies potential local maxima using a reward model. Upon detection, it injects noise and reverts to a previous, noisier state to escape the current optimization plateau. The reward model then evaluates candidate trajectories, accepting only those that offer improvement, while progressively deeper retreat enables stronger escapes when nearby alternatives fail. This controlled random zigzag process allows dynamic alternation between forward refinement and backward exploration, enhancing both alignment and visual quality in the generated outputs. The proposed Ctrl-Z Sampling is model-agnostic and compatible with existing diffusion frameworks. Experimental results show that Ctrl-Z Sampling substantially improves generation quality with only around 7.6X increase in function evaluations.
Code (0)
등록된 구현이 없습니다.
Tasks
DenoisingMethods 이 논문이 사용한 방법론
Similar Papers 제목 키워드 기반
NoiseCtrl: A Sampling-Algorithm-Agnostic Conditional Generation Method for Diffusion Models
In training-free conditional generative tasks, diffusion models utilize differentiable loss functions to steer the generative reverse process, necessitating modifications to sampling algorithms like DDPM and DDIM. Ho…
Conditional Image GenerationImage GenerationDualCamCtrl: Dual-Branch Diffusion Model for Geometry-Aware Camera-Controlled Video Generation
This paper presents DualCamCtrl, a novel end-to-end diffusion model for camera-controlled video generation. Recent works have advanced this field by representing camera poses as ray-based conditions, yet they often lack …
Scene UnderstandingVideo GenerationCameraCtrl II: Dynamic Scene Exploration via Camera-controlled Video Diffusion Models
This paper introduces CameraCtrl II, a framework that enables large-scale dynamic scene exploration through a camera-controlled video diffusion model. Previous camera-conditioned video generative models suffer from dimin…
A random measure approach to reinforcement learning in continuous time
We present a random measure approach for modeling exploration, i.e., the execution of measure-valued controls, in continuous-time reinforcement learning (RL) with controlled diffusion and jumps. First, we consider the ca…
reinforcement-learningReinforcement LearningReinforcement Learning (RL)Random Sampling for Diffusion-based Adversarial Purification
Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Models (DDPMs) have gained great attention in adversarial purification. Current diffusion-based works focus on designing effective condition-guided mechanisms while ignoring a fundamenta…
Adversarial PurificationDenoising