PaperFig

PaperFig is an image generator tool that turns text, sketches and photos into publication-ready scientific figures. PaperFig is an AI figure maker for researchers that converts text, sketches, photos or PDFs into publication-ready scientific illustrations, with OCR label editing, PNG and 4K export, and a credit-based free tier.

PaperFig is a web-based figure maker aimed at researchers who need mechanism diagrams, workflows, graphical abstracts and journal figures without arranging icons and labels by hand. A user describes the figure in plain language, uploads a rough sketch, a photo, a PDF or a reference image, and the tool produces a clean draft that can be refined and exported. In practice the process starts on the create page, where the input type is chosen: text to figure, sketch to figure, photo to figure, figure enhancer or reference to figure. Two generation modes are offered. A standard mode favours speed for drafts, while a refined mode spends more time on detail for final polish. Aspect ratios such as 1:1, 4:3 and 16:9 can be selected before generating. Once a draft exists, labels can be corrected through an OCR-based editor, so a single misspelled word does not force a full regeneration. Output is a PNG, with a 4K upscale available, and editable SVG or PPTX exports appear after label fixes on paid plans. The audience is graduate students, postdocs, principal investigators and lab groups preparing manuscripts, revision responses, slides, lab meeting material or teaching figures. A public gallery of more than 80 reference figures spans biomedical, materials, energy, environmental, bioengineering, computer science and geoscience topics, which helps users judge the visual style before spending credits. Pricing is credit based. A free tier grants signup credits, and each figure costs roughly 50 credits. Annual subscriptions add monthly credit allowances, watermark-free output and a publication and commercial license, and separate credit packs cover occasional bursts of work. Among alternatives, PaperFig sits between general image generators, which tend to garble scientific labels, and manual vector tools such as drawing software, where every icon is placed by hand. Its trade-off is that output is AI-drawn rather than built from the researcher's own data, so accuracy still needs a careful check before submission.