AI Scientific Illustration Generator
Mechanism diagrams, schematics and figure panels, drawn from a sentence or a rough sketch.
- Nine styles, from clean schematic to 3D render
- Every label and arrow stays editable
- Layered SVG and PPTX export
AI figure engine · for researchers
Free AI Scientific Figure Generator. Turn a text prompt, hand sketch, PDF, or abstract into publication-ready scientific figures.
Free to start. Every label, color, and shape remains editable — not just a flat image.
A free AI figure generator, built for journals
The whole loop, not just the first draft — 100 free credits, no card.
Generation
Start from ANYTHING
Mechanism diagrams, signaling pathways, experimental workflows and graphical abstracts — each starts from something you already have.
01
Text to Figure
A sentence or an abstract, drafted as a figure — schematic through fully rendered, chosen up front.
02
Image to Figure
A photo, a whiteboard sketch or an existing figure, redrawn clean and editable.
03
Reference to Figure
The paper itself, read and turned into artwork at 1K to 8K.
Editing
Change EVERYTHING
Nothing is baked in. Labels, colours and background stay editable after the figure exists.
01
Text
Labels, legends and callouts stay live text. Correct a gene name without redrawing.
02
Region
Redraw one panel, or recolour the whole figure to a journal palette.
03
Background
Strip it to white or transparent for the manuscript template.
Outputs
One tool, EVERY FIGURE
The same pipeline draws a four-panel explainer, a conference poster and a graphical abstract — and most things between them.
01
Illustration
Multi-stage explainers with a consistent hand.
02
Poster
Full conference layout, print-ready.
03
Graphical abstract
Problem, method and result on one panel.
04
And the rest
Mechanism diagrams, signaling pathways, experimental workflows — anything a paper needs a picture for.
Export
Export in ANY FORMAT
The figure leaves as a file the next step accepts — a manuscript upload, an Illustrator session, or the slide you have to present.
01
PNG
Lossless, written out at the figure's own resolution.
02
JPG
The same picture in a smaller file, for portals with an upload cap.
03
SVG
Real vectors — text stays text and every shape stays a shape, in Illustrator or Inkscape.
04
PPTX
An editable slide. Retype a label in PowerPoint or Keynote without coming back here.
What is Scientific Figure?
Scientific Figure is an AI tool that turns a text prompt, a hand sketch, an abstract or a full paper PDF into a publication-ready scientific figure in about 30 seconds. Unlike a general-purpose image generator, it draws to the conventions of scientific illustration and leaves every element live — so a wrong gene name is a correction, not a regeneration.
Key facts
- Four ways in — a sentence, a hand sketch, an abstract, or the whole paper as a PDF
- Labels stay live text; arrows, colors and shapes stay objects you can move
- Exports as PNG, JPG, layered SVG and editable PPTX
- Up to 8K, and 600+ DPI at single-column width
- Recolor to Nature, Science, NEJM, The Lancet, JAMA or Okabe-Ito palettes
- Nine illustration styles, from clean schematic to 3D render
Who is Scientific Figure for?
It is for anyone who needs an accurate figure and does not have a designer. No prior tool matters — experience with Illustrator, Inkscape or BioRender is optional, not assumed.
The PhD student with a revise-and-resubmit
Reviewer two wants the mechanism redrawn, the deadline is two weeks out, and learning Illustrator is not on the schedule.
The lab with no design budget
A figure or two per paper, several papers a year, and no line item for a scientific illustrator.
The educator building a lecture
A labelled diagram that is actually correct, exported as a slide that can still be edited in PowerPoint.
The PI writing a grant
A clean schematic for the proposal, in the hour before the submission portal closes.
The science communicator or medical writer
A published result turned into something a non-specialist takes in on the first pass.
How Scientific Figure compares
The three things researchers usually reach for each solve a different part of the problem — a fixed icon library, a general-purpose image model, or a professional vector editor. What follows is where each one stops.
| Scientific Figure | BioRender | General AI image tools | Illustrator / Inkscape | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| How a figure is made | Generated from your text, sketch or PDF | Assembled from an icon library | Generated from a prompt | Drawn by hand |
| Limited to premade shapes | No | Yes — the icon set | No | No |
| Editable afterwards | Every label, arrow and shape | Yes, within the editor | No — flat pixels | Fully |
| Follows scientific conventions | Yes | Yes | Inconsistently | Only if you know them |
| Vector and editable-slide export | SVG and PPTX | SVG; PPTX on select paid plans | No | SVG and AI |
| Design skill needed | None | Some | None | Substantial |
BioRender's export tiers are as documented in its own help centre, August 2026.
Tools
Dedicated tools for the figures researchers hand in most often.
Graphical Abstract Maker
Problem, method and result on a single panel, sized for journal submission portals.
- One-panel layouts that read in a single pass
- 600+ dpi at single-column width
- Recolor to match your target journal
Scientific Poster Maker
A full conference poster — title, sections and figures — laid out and print-ready.
- A0, A1 and 48×36 in portrait or landscape
- Six academic templates that follow poster conventions
- Editable PPTX for last-minute changes
Every other figure type has a page of its own.
Visual Abstract Maker
Clinical three-panel summary with your numbers
Circuit Diagram Maker
Schematics and breadboard views from plain words
PRISMA Flow Diagram Generator
PRISMA 2020 flow diagrams from your screening counts
Phylogenetic Tree Maker
Phylograms and timetrees with branch lengths and support
Cladogram Maker
Evolutionary trees from a list of organisms
Animal Cell Diagram
Labelled animal cell diagrams with accurate organelles
Plant Cell Diagram
Labelled plant cell diagrams, cell wall to vacuole
Cellular Respiration Diagram
Glycolysis to electron transport, with ATP counts
96-Well Plate Template
Plate maps and blank templates on the standard 8 × 12 grid
Box Plot Maker
Exact box and whisker plots from pasted data or CSV/Excel
Scientific Poster Templates
Editable layouts sized for A0 and A1
Graphical Abstract Templates
Six layouts: flow, comparison, cycle and more
From the blog
The figure HANDBOOK
Journal figure requirements, poster specifications and impact factors — every number traced to the publisher's own document, with the date we checked it.
Pricing
Transparent pricing, safe payment
Start free with 100 credits. Upgrade when you publish.
Free
$0
Try it on a real figure
Start freeThe model the free plan runs on
GPT
- 100 credits to startGranted on sign-up, no credit card
- No 2K output
- No 4K output
- No 8K upscale
- Standard generation queue
- Watermarked exports
- No publication license
- No customer support
Lite
$8.25/mo$9.9
2 months free$99 billed yearly
For a single paper
Advanced models after upgrading
FLUX
Seedream
GPT
Nano Banana
- 1,200 credits / month
- Up to 4K export
- Edit in Canvas
- Layered SVG export
- Fully editable PPTX export
- No watermarks
- Publication license certificate
- Highest-priority queue
- Priority customer support
Most popular
Pro
$12/mo$19
Save 35%$144 billed yearly
For individual researchers
Advanced models after upgrading
FLUX
Seedream
GPT
Nano Banana
- 3,000 credits / month
- Up to 4K export
- Up to 8K export
- Edit in Canvas
- Layered SVG export
- Fully editable PPTX export
- No watermarks
- Publication license certificate
- Highest-priority queue
- Priority customer support
Plus
$20/mo$39
Save 45%$240 billed yearly
For power users and frequent figures
Advanced models after upgrading
FLUX
Seedream
GPT
Nano Banana
- 7,000 credits / month
- Up to 4K export
- Up to 8K export
- Edit in Canvas
- Layered SVG export
- Fully editable PPTX export
- No watermarks
- Publication license certificate
- Highest-priority queue
- Priority customer support
Frequently asked questions
Everything you need to know before your first figure.
Free to start · 100 credits · no card
Your
manuscript is
one figure away
Type a sentence — get a publication-ready, fully editable figure in about 30 seconds.
