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A$^2$-Edit: Precise Reference-Guided Image Editing of Arbitrary Objects and Ambiguous Masks

arXiv cs.CV / 3/12/2026

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Key Points

  • A²-Edit is a unified inpainting framework enabling precise reference-guided editing of arbitrary objects using only a coarse mask.
  • It introduces UniEdit-500K, a large-scale multi-category dataset with 8 major categories, 209 subcategories, and 500,104 image pairs to address homogenization and coverage.
  • It introduces a Mixture of Transformer module that enables dynamic expert selection to model different object categories and improve cross-category transfer and generalization.
  • It proposes a Mask Annealing Training Strategy (MATS) that progressively relaxes mask precision during training to improve robustness across diverse editing tasks, with strong performance on benchmarks such as VITON-HD and AnyInsertion.

Abstract

We propose \textbf{A^2-Edit}, a unified inpainting framework for arbitrary object categories, which allows users to replace any target region with a reference object using only a coarse mask. To address the issues of severe homogenization and limited category coverage in existing datasets, we construct a large-scale, multi-category dataset \textbf{UniEdit-500K}, which includes 8 major categories, 209 fine-grained subcategories, and a total of 500,104 image pairs. Such rich category diversity poses new challenges for the model, requiring it to automatically learn semantic relationships and distinctions across categories. To this end, we introduce the \textbf{Mixture of Transformer} module, which performs differentiated modeling of various object categories through dynamic expert selection, and further enhances cross-category semantic transfer and generalization through collaboration among experts. In addition, we propose a \textbf{Mask Annealing Training Strategy} (MATS) that progressively relaxes mask precision during training, reducing the model's reliance on accurate masks and improving robustness across diverse editing tasks. Extensive experiments on benchmarks such as VITON-HD and AnyInsertion demonstrate that A^2-Edit consistently outperforms existing approaches across all metrics, providing a new and efficient solution for arbitrary object editing.