Machine learningProject record · Sep 2026

Machine Learning & Model Research

VAE, DDPM & guided diffusion

A sequence of course studies in latent-variable generation, DDPM training and classifier-free guidance, then diffusion-based image deblurring.

PythonPyTorchVAEDDPMClassifier-free guidanceDiffusion posterior samplingJupyter
Why it sits here. Broader model understanding plus directly named experiment analysis; less original system construction than mini_torch.
03 / Somewhere between data and understanding.STUDY IN SPACE

01 / IMPLEMENTATION & CONTRIBUTION

What the work involves

Course notebooks implement VAE objectives, DDPM training and sampling, classifier-free guidance, and simplified diffusion posterior sampling. Donald’s deblurring report compares six guidance scales and four measurement-noise settings.

Technical depth

Convolutional VAE with KL weighting and generation-distribution comparison; time-conditioned U-Net diffusion from supplied scaffolding; two-pass classifier-free guidance; Tweedie reconstruction; self-adjoint blur likelihood correction; six guidance scales and four noise settings.

The project family

uiuc/ece598/mp1uiuc/ece598/MP2uiuc/ece598/mp2uiuc/ece598/MP3

02 / RESULTS

What came out of it

Generated-image artifacts and a qualitative deblurring study show the tradeoff: insufficient guidance loses the input, excessive guidance introduces artifacts, and higher measurement noise degrades reconstruction.

03 / SUPPORTING EVIDENCE

Follow the source

Implementation notes, project records, and supporting artifacts.

Source context & project scope

Coursework using supplied architectures and OpenAI guided-diffusion/pretrained weights; those upstream models are not Donald-authored.

The DPS report is qualitative and based on its selected image setup, not broad image-restoration performance.

No aggregate PSNR/SSIM or reproducibility benchmark was established.

mp2 lowercase is a setup duplicate; group it with MP2 rather than count it as another project.

Implemented convolutional VAE reparameterization, loss and multiscale MMD evaluation.

SOURCE · 2026-09-17

Implemented DDPM epsilon loss, classifier-free conditional/unconditional loss and samplers.

SOURCE · 2026-09-17

Implemented Tweedie estimate and simplified observation-guidance update inside supplied diffusion code.

SOURCE · 2026-09-17

Extended experiment/report-generation notebook.

SOURCE · 2026-09-17

Filled Donald-named November 17, 2025 report; six guidance strengths and four noise levels.

SOURCE · 2026-09-17

Upstream model/code boundary.

SOURCE · 2026-09-17
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