[HN Gopher] Google researchers detail new method for upscaling l...
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       Google researchers detail new method for upscaling low-resolution
       images
        
       Author : zonovar
       Score  : 31 points
       Date   : 2021-08-31 20:54 UTC (13 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.dpreview.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.dpreview.com)
        
       | dang wrote:
       | We changed the URL from https://petapixel.com/2021/08/30/googles-
       | new-ai-photo-upscal..., which points to this. Both articles point
       | to this one, which had a recent and related thread:
       | 
       |  _High Fidelity Image Generation Using Diffusion Models_ -
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27858893 - July 2021 (19
       | comments)
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | empressplay wrote:
       | There might be hope for Star Trek:Deep Space Nine yet!
        
       | dakial1 wrote:
       | Some of the images in the article seemed to be high-res images
       | that where downscaled to low-res (and it makes sense to see how
       | the upscalling process changes the original), but wouldn't that
       | make it easier for the ML to revert the downscaling process
       | rather than taking an original low-res photo and upscale it?
        
         | lwneal wrote:
         | This is true. Downscaling an image and then training a neural
         | network to scale it back up is the way single-image
         | superresolution systems typically work. Research papers need to
         | evaluate their models, and how can you evaluate a scaled-up
         | image unless you have the original ground truth to compare it
         | to?
         | 
         | This can introduce a dataset shift bias. For example, if you
         | train a network to upscale 1080p movie frames to 4k, the
         | results might be disappointing when you try to scale 4k to 8k.
        
       | sorokod wrote:
       | If we start with multiple source images that are "small" (by some
       | definition of small) perturbations of each other and upscale
       | them, what can be said about the results?
        
       | emrah wrote:
       | It is pretty impressive/crazy how well CDM and SR3 work together
       | to go from 32x32 to 256x256 e.g. the Irish Setter. How could the
       | algos possibly know the lighter coloring (due to breed or
       | lighting) between the dog's eyes?! It's basically inventing
       | pixels
        
         | sorokod wrote:
         | How confident can you be that the initial 32x32 was an Irish
         | Setter?
        
         | shakna wrote:
         | Even basic upscaling algorithms can guess a surprising amount
         | of detail.
         | 
         | When I was putting together a simple and fast method, a while
         | back, I compared my own to the very, very, basic and ended up
         | with this [0].
         | 
         | The far left is the original, the others are just shifting the
         | scale percentage. There's a surprising amount of detail kept,
         | even though all of the algorithms were pushed way beyond what
         | should be considered their limits. (Purposefully - to expose
         | bias that was easier to analyse.)
         | 
         | [0] https://raw.githubusercontent.com/shakna-
         | israel/upscaler_ana...
        
           | emrah wrote:
           | Thank you for sharing. Honestly I don't see any "pixel
           | divining" in your examples. The algos take existing pixels
           | and build on top of that.
           | 
           | Irish Setter example seems to introduce detail that is not
           | part of the original small image, like the lighter/whitish
           | area between the dog's eyes.
        
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       (page generated 2021-09-01 10:02 UTC)