Synthetic Image Generation Using Deep Learning: A Systematic Literature Review

The advent of deep neural networks and improved computational power have brought a revolutionary transformation in the fields of computer vision and image processing. Within the realm of computer vision, there has been a significant interest in the area of synthetic image generation, which is a creative side of AI. Many researchers have introduced innovative methods to identify deep neural network-based architectures involved in image generation via different modes of input, like text, scene graph layouts and so forth to generate synthetic images. Computer-generated images have been found to contribute a lot to the training of different machine and deep-learning models. Nonetheless, we have observed an immediate need for a comprehensive and systematic literature review that encompasses a summary and critical evaluation of current primary studies' approaches toward image generation. To address this, we carried out a systematic literature review on synthetic image generation approaches published from 2018 to February 2023. Moreover, we have conducted a systematic review of various datasets, approaches to image generation, performance metrics for existing methods, and a brief experimental comparison of DCGAN (deep convolutional generative adversarial network) and cGAN (conditional generative adversarial network) in the context of image generation. Additionally, we have identified applications related to image generation models with critical evaluation of the primary studies on the subject matter. Finally, we present some future research directions to further contribute to the field of image generation using deep neural networks.