diffusers/pr_14865/en/using-diffusers/controlnet.md

ControlNet

ControlNet steers a pretrained diffusion model with a structural control image (edges, depth, or pose) while you keep a text prompt. It freezes the base model and adds a parallel network whose residuals guide the denoiser, so you get layout control without fine-tuning.

Load a ControlNet for the control you need (for example canny), then pass it as controlnet= to from_pretrained(). Use controlnet_conditioning_scale to set how strongly the control steers generation.

ControlNets are available to many models such as Flux, Hunyuan-DiT, Stable Diffusion 3, and more. The examples in this guide use Flux and Stable Diffusion XL. For T2I-Adapter on older Stable Diffusion–family checkpoints, see Legacy adapters. Prefer ControlNet for new controllable-generation work.

The tabs below show ControlNet for text-to-image, image-to-image, and inpainting.

Generate a canny image with opencv-python.

import cv2
import numpy as np
from PIL import Image
from diffusers.utils import load_image

original_image = load_image(
    "https://huggingface.co/datasets/huggingface/documentation-images/resolve/main/diffusers/non-enhanced-prompt.png"
)

image = np.array(original_image)

low_threshold = 100
high_threshold = 200

image = cv2.Canny(image, low_threshold, high_threshold)
image = image[:, :, None]
image = np.concatenate([image, image, image], axis=2)
canny_image = Image.fromarray(image)

Pass the canny image to the pipeline. Use the controlnet_conditioning_scale parameter to determine how much weight to assign to the control.

import torch
from diffusers.utils import load_image
from diffusers import FluxControlNetPipeline, FluxControlNetModel

controlnet = FluxControlNetModel.from_pretrained(
    "InstantX/FLUX.1-dev-Controlnet-Canny", dtype=torch.bfloat16
)
pipeline = FluxControlNetPipeline.from_pretrained(
    "black-forest-labs/FLUX.1-dev", controlnet=controlnet, dtype=torch.bfloat16
).to("cuda")  # or "mps", "xpu", "cpu"

prompt = """
A photorealistic overhead image of a cat reclining sideways in a flamingo pool floatie holding a margarita. 
The cat is floating leisurely in the pool and completely relaxed and happy.
"""

pipeline(
    prompt, 
    control_image=canny_image,
    controlnet_conditioning_scale=0.5,
    num_inference_steps=50, 
    guidance_scale=3.5,
).images[0]

original image



canny image



generated image

Generate a depth map with a depth estimation pipeline from Transformers.

import torch
import numpy as np
from PIL import Image
from transformers import DPTImageProcessor, DPTForDepthEstimation
from diffusers import ControlNetModel, StableDiffusionXLControlNetImg2ImgPipeline, AutoencoderKL
from diffusers.utils import load_image

device = "cuda"  # or "mps", "xpu", "cpu"
depth_estimator = DPTForDepthEstimation.from_pretrained("Intel/dpt-hybrid-midas").to(device)
feature_extractor = DPTImageProcessor.from_pretrained("Intel/dpt-hybrid-midas")

def get_depth_map(image):
    image = feature_extractor(images=image, return_tensors="pt").pixel_values.to(device)
    with torch.no_grad(), torch.autocast(device):
        depth_map = depth_estimator(image).predicted_depth

    depth_map = torch.nn.functional.interpolate(
        depth_map.unsqueeze(1),
        size=(1024, 1024),
        mode="bicubic",
        align_corners=False,
    )
    depth_min = torch.amin(depth_map, dim=[1, 2, 3], keepdim=True)
    depth_max = torch.amax(depth_map, dim=[1, 2, 3], keepdim=True)
    depth_map = (depth_map - depth_min) / (depth_max - depth_min)
    image = torch.cat([depth_map] * 3, dim=1)
    image = image.permute(0, 2, 3, 1).cpu().numpy()[0]
    image = Image.fromarray((image * 255.0).clip(0, 255).astype(np.uint8))
    return image

image = load_image(
    "https://huggingface.co/datasets/huggingface/documentation-images/resolve/main/diffusers/non-enhanced-prompt.png"
).resize((1024, 1024))
depth_image = get_depth_map(image)

Pass the depth map to the pipeline. Use the controlnet_conditioning_scale parameter to determine how much weight to assign to the control.

controlnet = ControlNetModel.from_pretrained(
    "diffusers/controlnet-depth-sdxl-1.0-small",
    dtype=torch.float16,
)
vae = AutoencoderKL.from_pretrained("madebyollin/sdxl-vae-fp16-fix", dtype=torch.float16)
pipeline = StableDiffusionXLControlNetImg2ImgPipeline.from_pretrained(
    "stabilityai/stable-diffusion-xl-base-1.0",
    controlnet=controlnet,
    vae=vae,
    dtype=torch.float16,
).to(device)

prompt = """
A photorealistic overhead image of a cat reclining sideways in a flamingo pool floatie holding a margarita. 
The cat is floating leisurely in the pool and completely relaxed and happy.
"""
controlnet_conditioning_scale = 0.5
pipeline(
    prompt,
    image=image,
    control_image=depth_image,
    controlnet_conditioning_scale=controlnet_conditioning_scale,
    strength=0.99,
    num_inference_steps=100,
).images[0]

original image



depth map



generated image

Generate a mask image that marks which pixels to replace, then pass it as mask_image with the control image.

import cv2
import torch
import numpy as np
from PIL import Image
from diffusers.utils import load_image
from diffusers import StableDiffusionXLControlNetInpaintPipeline, ControlNetModel

init_image = load_image(
    "https://huggingface.co/datasets/huggingface/documentation-images/resolve/main/diffusers/non-enhanced-prompt.png"
)
init_image = init_image.resize((1024, 1024))
mask_image = load_image(
    "https://huggingface.co/datasets/huggingface/documentation-images/resolve/main/diffusers/cat_mask.png"
)
mask_image = mask_image.resize((1024, 1024))

def make_canny_condition(image):
    image = np.array(image)
    image = cv2.Canny(image, 100, 200)
    image = image[:, :, None]
    image = np.concatenate([image, image, image], axis=2)
    image = Image.fromarray(image)
    return image

control_image = make_canny_condition(init_image)

Pass the mask and control image to the pipeline. Use the controlnet_conditioning_scale parameter to determine how much weight to assign to the control.

controlnet = ControlNetModel.from_pretrained(
    "diffusers/controlnet-canny-sdxl-1.0", dtype=torch.float16
)
pipeline = StableDiffusionXLControlNetInpaintPipeline.from_pretrained(
    "stabilityai/stable-diffusion-xl-base-1.0", controlnet=controlnet, dtype=torch.float16
).to("cuda")  # or "mps", "xpu", "cpu"
pipeline(
    "a cute and fluffy bunny rabbit",
    num_inference_steps=100,
    strength=0.99,
    controlnet_conditioning_scale=0.5,
    image=init_image,
    mask_image=mask_image,
    control_image=control_image,
).images[0]

original image



mask image



generated image

Multi-ControlNet

Compose several ControlNets (for example canny + depth) by passing them as a list. Mask overlapping regions when you can, and tune each controlnet_conditioning_scale. Build canny_image with OpenCV Canny (as in text-to-image) and depth_image with DPT (as in image-to-image). Resize every control image to the pipeline size before you call the pipeline.

import cv2
import torch
import numpy as np
from PIL import Image
from transformers import DPTImageProcessor, DPTForDepthEstimation
from diffusers import StableDiffusionXLControlNetPipeline, ControlNetModel, AutoencoderKL
from diffusers.utils import load_image

original_image = load_image(
    "https://huggingface.co/datasets/huggingface/documentation-images/resolve/main/diffusers/non-enhanced-prompt.png"
)
image = np.array(original_image)
canny_image = Image.fromarray(
    np.concatenate([cv2.Canny(image, 100, 200)[:, :, None]] * 3, axis=2)
)

device = "cuda"  # or "mps", "xpu", "cpu"
depth_estimator = DPTForDepthEstimation.from_pretrained("Intel/dpt-hybrid-midas").to(device)
feature_extractor = DPTImageProcessor.from_pretrained("Intel/dpt-hybrid-midas")

def get_depth_map(image):
    image = feature_extractor(images=image, return_tensors="pt").pixel_values.to(device)
    with torch.no_grad(), torch.autocast(device):
        depth_map = depth_estimator(image).predicted_depth

    depth_map = torch.nn.functional.interpolate(
        depth_map.unsqueeze(1),
        size=(1024, 1024),
        mode="bicubic",
        align_corners=False,
    )
    depth_min = torch.amin(depth_map, dim=[1, 2, 3], keepdim=True)
    depth_max = torch.amax(depth_map, dim=[1, 2, 3], keepdim=True)
    depth_map = (depth_map - depth_min) / (depth_max - depth_min)
    image = torch.cat([depth_map] * 3, dim=1)
    image = image.permute(0, 2, 3, 1).cpu().numpy()[0]
    image = Image.fromarray((image * 255.0).clip(0, 255).astype(np.uint8))
    return image

depth_image = get_depth_map(original_image.resize((1024, 1024)))

controlnets = [
    ControlNetModel.from_pretrained(
        "diffusers/controlnet-canny-sdxl-1.0", dtype=torch.float16
    ),
    ControlNetModel.from_pretrained(
        "diffusers/controlnet-depth-sdxl-1.0-small", dtype=torch.float16
    ),
]

vae = AutoencoderKL.from_pretrained("madebyollin/sdxl-vae-fp16-fix", dtype=torch.float16)
pipeline = StableDiffusionXLControlNetPipeline.from_pretrained(
    "stabilityai/stable-diffusion-xl-base-1.0", controlnet=controlnets, vae=vae, dtype=torch.float16
).to(device)

prompt = """
a relaxed rabbit sitting on a striped towel next to a pool with a tropical drink nearby, 
bright sunny day, vacation scene, 35mm photograph, film, professional, 4k, highly detailed
"""
negative_prompt = "lowres, bad anatomy, worst quality, low quality, deformed, ugly"

images = [canny_image.resize((1024, 1024)), depth_image.resize((1024, 1024))]

pipeline(
    prompt,
    negative_prompt=negative_prompt,
    image=images,
    num_inference_steps=100,
    controlnet_conditioning_scale=[0.5, 0.5],
).images[0]

canny image



depth map



generated image

Guess mode

Guess mode generates an image from a control alone when you don't have (or don't want) a text prompt. It scales ControlNet residuals by block depth, from about 0.1 in early down blocks up to 1.0 at the mid block. That keeps early layers from over-constraining while deeper blocks still carry the structure.

import torch
from diffusers.utils import load_image
from diffusers import StableDiffusionXLControlNetPipeline, ControlNetModel

controlnet = ControlNetModel.from_pretrained(
  "diffusers/controlnet-canny-sdxl-1.0", dtype=torch.float16
)
pipeline = StableDiffusionXLControlNetPipeline.from_pretrained(
  "stabilityai/stable-diffusion-xl-base-1.0",
  controlnet=controlnet,
  dtype=torch.float16
).to("cuda")  # or "mps", "xpu", "cpu"

canny_image = load_image("https://huggingface.co/datasets/huggingface/documentation-images/resolve/main/diffusers/canny-cat.png")
pipeline(
  "",
  image=canny_image,
  guess_mode=True
).images[0]

canny image



generated image