PaperFig

PaperFig is a scientific figure maker designed for researchers who need to turn ideas into clear, publication-ready visuals without spending hours in illustration software. You can start with a plain-language description of a mechanism or workflow, upload a rough sketch, a photo of a whiteboard, or even an existing figure you want to enhance. The tool generates a structured, editable figure that you can refine and export. It supports multiple disciplines — biomedical, materials, energy, environmental, bioengineering, CS/AI, and geoscience — with examples tailored to each field.

How does it work? You type a description (up to 3000 characters) or upload an image, and PaperFig produces a draft figure with labeled components. You can then edit any label using the built-in OCR text editor — no need to regenerate the whole figure. The tool offers several input paths: Text to Figure, Sketch to Figure, Photo to Figure, Reference to Figure, and a Figure Enhancer that cleans up existing images. Export options include standard PNG, 4K PNG for submissions, and SVG/PPTX after label edits. The free tier gives you 150 credits (about 3 base generations), and paid plans start at $120/year for more monthly credits.

Who benefits most? Active researchers preparing manuscripts, grant proposals, or conference presentations. Lab groups that need to iterate quickly on figures for paper revisions. Teachers who want to create clear explanatory diagrams for courses. PaperFig replaces the manual process of dragging icons and aligning text boxes, letting you focus on the scientific story instead of the layout. It's a practical tool for anyone who has ever wished they could generate a journal-quality figure from a sentence or a napkin sketch.