A Few-Step Generative Model on Cumulative Flow Maps

arXiv cs.LG / 5/6/2026

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Key Points

  • The paper introduces a unified, few-step generative modeling framework based on cumulative flow maps to model long-range transport in probability space.
  • It uses a cumulative-flow abstraction that links local, instantaneous updates with finite-time transport, allowing models to reason about global state transitions.
  • The approach is designed to be generally applicable to existing diffusion- and flow-based models by focusing on cumulative transport and cumulative parameterization rather than a specific model instantiation.
  • It enables one-step or few-step generation while maintaining synthesis quality, with only minimal adjustments to time embeddings and training objectives and no need to increase model capacity.
  • Experiments across multiple domains (image generation, geometric distribution modeling, joint prediction, and SDF generation) show improved efficiency via reduced inference cost.

Abstract

We propose a unified, few-step generative modeling framework based on \emph{cumulative flow maps} for long-range transport in probability space, inspired by flow-map techniques for physical transport and dynamics. At its core is a cumulative-flow abstraction that connects local, instantaneous updates with finite-time transport, enabling generative models to reason about global state transitions. This perspective yields a unified few-step framework built on cumulative transport and \revise{cumulative} parameterization that applies broadly to existing diffusion- and flow-based models without being tied to a specific prediction \revise{instantiation}. Our formulation supports few-step and even one-step generation while preserving synthesis quality, requiring only minimal changes to time embeddings and training objectives, and no increase in model capacity. We demonstrate its effectiveness across diverse tasks, including image generation, geometric distribution modeling, joint prediction, and SDF generation, with reduced inference cost.