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Launch ready Session 2 · Images Interactive

Diffusion Step-Through Viewer

Step from pure noise to final image and watch structure emerge one denoising pass at a time. The viewer makes iterative denoising inspectable — slowing down the process so you can name what the prompt is guiding and what the model is deciding on its own.

tools/diffusion-step-through-viewer/

Live preview · launch for the interactive version

§ A · What it makes visible

what the screen literally shows
Fig. 01

Iterative denoising

Images don’t appear all at once. Each step removes a small amount of noise, pushing pixels toward a prompt-consistent distribution — one pass at a time.

Fig. 02

Structure from noise

Composition appears before subject, subject before texture, texture before detail. The sequence reveals what the model is building toward — and in what order.

Fig. 03

Prompt guidance at each step

The prompt doesn’t just shape the final output. It guides every denoising step. You can watch it pull structure out of noise — or watch where it stops mattering.

§ B · How to investigate it

run it like an experiment, not a toy

Don’t skip to the end. Pause at each stage and describe only what you can see — not what you expect.

01 · Predict

Before stepping through

Write down which step you expect the subject to become recognizable. Then step through and see if you were right.

prompt: “a doctor examining a patient”
02 · Describe each stage

Composition, then subject

At each stage: what regions exist? What subject? What texture? What detail? Describe only what you can observe, not what you infer.

step 3 → “two regions, no subject yet”
03 · Compare two prompts

Vague vs. specific

Run the same sequence with a vague and a specific prompt. At which step does the difference become visible?

“a person” vs. “a doctor in a white coat”
04 · Name the default

What the prompt didn’t specify

What did the model generate that your prompt left open? That unspecified choice is a default — name it precisely.

age, race, setting, style · all chosen without being asked

§ C · Debrief questions

after the investigation
At what step did the subject become recognizable?
What appeared before you expected it? What appeared later?
What does the prompt guide, and what does the model fill in?
When does denoising become a decision about who or what gets drawn?