diffusers/docs/source/en/api/pipelines/stable_cascade.md

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# Stable Cascade

This model is built upon the [Würstchen](https://openreview.net/forum?id=gU58d5QeGv) architecture and its main
difference to other models like Stable Diffusion is that it is working at a much smaller latent space. Why is this
important? The smaller the latent space, the **faster** you can run inference and the **cheaper** the training becomes.
How small is the latent space? Stable Diffusion uses a compression factor of 8, resulting in a 1024x1024 image being
encoded to 128x128. Stable Cascade achieves a compression factor of 42, meaning that it is possible to encode a
1024x1024 image to 24x24, while maintaining crisp reconstructions. The text-conditional model is then trained in the
highly compressed latent space. Previous versions of this architecture, achieved a 16x cost reduction over Stable
Diffusion 1.5.

Therefore, this kind of model is well suited for usages where efficiency is important. Furthermore, all known extensions
like finetuning, LoRA, ControlNet, IP-Adapter, LCM etc. are possible with this method as well.

The original codebase can be found at [Stability-AI/StableCascade](https://github.com/Stability-AI/StableCascade).

## Model Overview
Stable Cascade consists of three models: Stage A, Stage B and Stage C, representing a cascade to generate images,
hence the name "Stable Cascade".

Stage A & B are used to compress images, similar to what the job of the VAE is in Stable Diffusion.
However, with this setup, a much higher compression of images can be achieved. While the Stable Diffusion models use a
spatial compression factor of 8, encoding an image with resolution of 1024 x 1024 to 128 x 128, Stable Cascade achieves
a compression factor of 42. This encodes a 1024 x 1024 image to 24 x 24, while being able to accurately decode the
image. This comes with the great benefit of cheaper training and inference. Furthermore, Stage C is responsible
for generating the small 24 x 24 latents given a text prompt.

The Stage C model operates on the small 24 x 24 latents and denoises the latents conditioned on text prompts. The model is also the largest component in the Cascade pipeline and is meant to be used with the `StableCascadePriorPipeline`

The Stage B and Stage A models are used with the `StableCascadeDecoderPipeline` and are responsible for generating the final image given the small 24 x 24 latents.

<Tip warning={true}>

There are some restrictions on data types that can be used with the Stable Cascade models. The official checkpoints for the  `StableCascadePriorPipeline` do not support the `torch.float16` data type. Please use `torch.bfloat16` instead.

In order to use the `torch.bfloat16` data type with the `StableCascadeDecoderPipeline` you need to have PyTorch 2.2.0 or higher installed. This also means that using the `StableCascadeCombinedPipeline` with `torch.bfloat16` requires PyTorch 2.2.0 or higher, since it calls the `StableCascadeDecoderPipeline` internally.

If it is not possible to install PyTorch 2.2.0 or higher in your environment, the `StableCascadeDecoderPipeline` can be used on its own with the `torch.float16` data type. You can download the full precision or `bf16` variant weights for the pipeline and cast the weights to `torch.float16`.

</Tip>

## Usage example

```python
import torch
from diffusers import StableCascadeDecoderPipeline, StableCascadePriorPipeline

prompt = "an image of a shiba inu, donning a spacesuit and helmet"
negative_prompt = ""

prior = StableCascadePriorPipeline.from_pretrained("stabilityai/stable-cascade-prior", variant="bf16", torch_dtype=torch.bfloat16)
decoder = StableCascadeDecoderPipeline.from_pretrained("stabilityai/stable-cascade", variant="bf16", torch_dtype=torch.float16)

prior.enable_model_cpu_offload()
prior_output = prior(
    prompt=prompt,
    height=1024,
    width=1024,
    negative_prompt=negative_prompt,
    guidance_scale=4.0,
    num_images_per_prompt=1,
    num_inference_steps=20
)

decoder.enable_model_cpu_offload()
decoder_output = decoder(
    image_embeddings=prior_output.image_embeddings.to(torch.float16),
    prompt=prompt,
    negative_prompt=negative_prompt,
    guidance_scale=0.0,
    output_type="pil",
    num_inference_steps=10
).images[0]
decoder_output.save("cascade.png")
```

## Using the Lite Versions of the Stage B and Stage C models

```python
import torch
from diffusers import (
    StableCascadeDecoderPipeline,
    StableCascadePriorPipeline,
    StableCascadeUNet,
)

prompt = "an image of a shiba inu, donning a spacesuit and helmet"
negative_prompt = ""

prior_unet = StableCascadeUNet.from_pretrained("stabilityai/stable-cascade-prior", subfolder="prior_lite")
decoder_unet = StableCascadeUNet.from_pretrained("stabilityai/stable-cascade", subfolder="decoder_lite")

prior = StableCascadePriorPipeline.from_pretrained("stabilityai/stable-cascade-prior", prior=prior_unet)
decoder = StableCascadeDecoderPipeline.from_pretrained("stabilityai/stable-cascade", decoder=decoder_unet)

prior.enable_model_cpu_offload()
prior_output = prior(
    prompt=prompt,
    height=1024,
    width=1024,
    negative_prompt=negative_prompt,
    guidance_scale=4.0,
    num_images_per_prompt=1,
    num_inference_steps=20
)

decoder.enable_model_cpu_offload()
decoder_output = decoder(
    image_embeddings=prior_output.image_embeddings,
    prompt=prompt,
    negative_prompt=negative_prompt,
    guidance_scale=0.0,
    output_type="pil",
    num_inference_steps=10
).images[0]
decoder_output.save("cascade.png")
```

## Loading original checkpoints with `from_single_file`

Loading the original format checkpoints is supported via `from_single_file` method in the StableCascadeUNet.

```python
import torch
from diffusers import (
    StableCascadeDecoderPipeline,
    StableCascadePriorPipeline,
    StableCascadeUNet,
)

prompt = "an image of a shiba inu, donning a spacesuit and helmet"
negative_prompt = ""

prior_unet = StableCascadeUNet.from_single_file(
    "https://huggingface.co/stabilityai/stable-cascade/resolve/main/stage_c_bf16.safetensors",
    torch_dtype=torch.bfloat16
)
decoder_unet = StableCascadeUNet.from_single_file(
    "https://huggingface.co/stabilityai/stable-cascade/blob/main/stage_b_bf16.safetensors",
    torch_dtype=torch.bfloat16
)

prior = StableCascadePriorPipeline.from_pretrained("stabilityai/stable-cascade-prior", prior=prior_unet, torch_dtype=torch.bfloat16)
decoder = StableCascadeDecoderPipeline.from_pretrained("stabilityai/stable-cascade", decoder=decoder_unet, torch_dtype=torch.bfloat16)

prior.enable_model_cpu_offload()
prior_output = prior(
    prompt=prompt,
    height=1024,
    width=1024,
    negative_prompt=negative_prompt,
    guidance_scale=4.0,
    num_images_per_prompt=1,
    num_inference_steps=20
)

decoder.enable_model_cpu_offload()
decoder_output = decoder(
    image_embeddings=prior_output.image_embeddings,
    prompt=prompt,
    negative_prompt=negative_prompt,
    guidance_scale=0.0,
    output_type="pil",
    num_inference_steps=10
).images[0]
decoder_output.save("cascade-single-file.png")
```

## Uses

### Direct Use

The model is intended for research purposes for now. Possible research areas and tasks include

- Research on generative models.
- Safe deployment of models which have the potential to generate harmful content.
- Probing and understanding the limitations and biases of generative models.
- Generation of artworks and use in design and other artistic processes.
- Applications in educational or creative tools.

Excluded uses are described below.

### Out-of-Scope Use

The model was not trained to be factual or true representations of people or events,
and therefore using the model to generate such content is out-of-scope for the abilities of this model.
The model should not be used in any way that violates Stability AI's [Acceptable Use Policy](https://stability.ai/use-policy).

## Limitations and Bias

### Limitations
- Faces and people in general may not be generated properly.
- The autoencoding part of the model is lossy.


## StableCascadeCombinedPipeline

[[autodoc]] StableCascadeCombinedPipeline
	- all
	- __call__

## StableCascadePriorPipeline

[[autodoc]] StableCascadePriorPipeline
	- all
	- __call__

## StableCascadePriorPipelineOutput

[[autodoc]] pipelines.stable_cascade.pipeline_stable_cascade_prior.StableCascadePriorPipelineOutput

## StableCascadeDecoderPipeline

[[autodoc]] StableCascadeDecoderPipeline
	- all
	- __call__