From your text to a finished figure
Paste a description or a few sentences. The aFig engine plans the layout like a scientific illustrator, draws every structure in our signature style and labels it, all checked against your words.
Features
Every tool your figure needs.
From your description to a journal-ready figure: our own figure engine, fixing words and arrows in the picture, painting and repair, studios for graphs, logos, posters and pictures, and everything you need to publish.
- 1generators
- 4studios
- 28colour schemes
- 4export formats
Built by researchers, for researchers
We all know how hard a figure from scratch is.
Days in drawing software, icons that never quite fit, labels that will not line up, and a journal deadline next week. So we built aFig: our own figure engine draws the whole figure from your text, and every tool you need after the drawing is right there in the studio.
01
Our own figure engine
Plans, draws and proofreads: you only describe the science.
Accuracy check
Every label is read back and matched to your text, letter by letter. Anything doubtful is flagged for you.
28 colour schemes
Choose the colours before you create, colour-blind safe included. The whole figure follows your choice.
Print-sharp detail New
Figures are drawn in high detail for sharp journal prints, and one click makes any older figure even sharper.
02
Fix it: words and arrows in the picture
Change what is drawn in the picture itself, in its own font, size and colour.
Fix any word in seconds New Beta
Drag over a wrong word. Only its letters are erased, the background is rebuilt, and you type the right word in the same font, size, weight and colour.
Copy style, even from the picture New Beta
Pick any word, even lettering drawn inside the figure: its font, size, weight and colour are read. Click other labels to give them the same look.
All text editable in one click New Beta
One click turns every word in your figure into text you can retype or move, in its own font, size and colour. One Undo puts the picture back.
Every arrow editable, exactly alike New Beta
One click turns the arrows and inhibitors drawn in your figure into real arrows: same place, path, width, colour and heads. Then recolour, thicken or bend them. One Undo puts the picture back.
Enhance text look New Beta
One click makes every word in the picture sharper and bolder, with a clean outline. Hold Compare to see the difference.
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Erase, repair and paint
Remove anything, mend smudged spots and paint by hand: the background is rebuilt around it.
Magic removal Beta
Select any word or object. It vanishes and the background is rebuilt around it, ready for something new.
Repair New Beta
Mark a blurred or damaged part: it is redrawn cleanly in the same style. Copy a clean area over another in one move.
aFig Paint
Brush, eraser, fill, paint area, eyedropper and pen. Box any part of the figure, then drag it or scale it from the corners.
04
Draw, label and arrange
Your own arrows, shapes and text, bent and layered exactly where you want them.
Arrows, shapes & text
Arrows, inhibitors, brackets, shapes, tables, symbols and extra text whenever you need them.
Bendable arrows New
Multi-point arrows that follow your pathway: drag any point to bend them, click the line to add a new corner, double-click a corner to remove it.
Arrange with ease New
A bar above every selection: bring to front or back in four numbered steps, lock, duplicate, or drag an item down to the bin to delete it.
05
Studios for graphs, statistics, bioinformatics, maps, panel figures, posters and pictures
Each studio opens on its own, built in and free: no extra software.
Graph studio New
Column, bar, line, scatter, dose–response, survival, violin, heatmap, volcano and more, with ± SD or SEM error bars. Type, paste or import your data and place the graph on your figure.
Statistical studio New Beta
Say how many groups and repeats, then type, paste or upload your data. The studio checks it, suggests the right test, draws the graph with stars, # and brackets, compares only the groups you choose, and writes an aFig report with methods text.
Flowchart studio: your methods, drawn as a flowchart New
Paste up to 500 words or upload a text file (.docx, .odt or .txt). The studio reads it and offers three designs already filled with your own words and numbers, including one it designs just for your text. Choose PRISMA, CONSORT, cohort and lab workflow templates with aFig icons and eight themes, drag boxes while the lines follow, double-click to add a similar box, check that your counts add up, and download PNG, TIFF, PDF or SVG.
Sketch studio: sketch it, get an icon New
Draw any shape roughly with your mouse, pen or finger, or type what you need. The aFig engine recognises 345 everyday things as you draw and over 1,400 science words as you type, and offers clean aFig icons together with icons it draws from your own sketch. Pick one and it takes the place of your sketch. Recolour, resize and save it to your own library, or move it to your uploads to use it in every studio.
Scientific Image studio: images in, measured results out New
Drop in Western blots, gels, IHC, immunofluorescence or cell pictures. The aFig engine recognises the image type, finds lanes, bands, nuclei, cells and stains, measures every image with the same validated methods, checks saturation and robustness, and draws the publication graph, with a methods paragraph and one click to Statistical studio. Every number comes from your own pixels, and your images stay on your computer.
Panel studio: results into one paper figure New
Add your microscopy, blots, graphs and tissue pictures as JPG, PNG or TIFF, or pick figures you already made in aFig. The studio trims empty borders, sorts them into lettered sections, recommends a layout in the style of a Nature paper and lets you resize every section and picture with sliders, add your own text and download TIFF, PDF or PNG at journal widths.
Map studio: where your study was done New Beta
Highlight study countries, provinces or districts and pin your study sites, or colour the map by prevalence, incidence or any value. From cases and totals it works out prevalence with 95% CI, tests whether places differ and marks those above or below the overall value. Names are matched for you; download PNG, TIFF, PDF or SVG.
Bioinformatics studio: your results, drawn New Beta
Drop the table your analysis already made, from transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics or microbiome work. The studio recognises it and offers only the figures that fit: volcano, MA, enrichment, clusters, heatmaps, overlaps and composition. Your data never leaves your browser.
Poster studio New
Conference posters in portrait, landscape or square, from six templates full of example text, pictures and graphs. Columns rearrange themselves as you type. Download a print-ready PDF at A0, A1, US or your own size, with bleed and crop marks when your print shop asks.
Figure studio: edit your own picture New
Upload any figure, diagram or slide picture from your computer and use the whole studio on it: fix words in their own font, make arrows editable, erase, repair and paint, add labels, shapes, icons and graphs, then export for your journal. Everything runs in your browser.
06
Sharp on paper, easy on iPad, in your language
Print-quality downloads, every tool at your fingertips, in English, Chinese or Spanish.
High-quality figure export New
PNG, TIFF, PDF or JPG at the exact size your journal asks for, on white or transparent. High quality doubles the pixels and keeps every letter and line crisp.
Made for iPad New
Every tool works with touch and Apple Pencil: handwrite, drag to bend arrows, pick a table size, drop items in the bin and edit labels in place.
In English, Chinese and Spanish New
The whole site and studio switch to Simplified Chinese or Spanish from the menu, and open in your browser's language the first time. The labels on your figures stay exactly as you wrote them.
07
Organise, share and publish
Everything a paper needs, from the first draft to the journal.
Folders with PIN lock New
Keep each paper's figures together, and lock unpublished work behind your own PIN. Only you can open it.
Rights to Publish PDF
A signed document for each figure, with your manuscript, journal and licence, ready for the editor.
Version history
Every change is saved. Step back to any earlier version.
Share with co-authors New
Send a figure by email or share a view link. Stop sharing whenever you like.
Share credits with your lab New
Give membership credits to a co-author or your lab.
Help inside the studio New
Chat with our team or report a problem with a screenshot in one click. If a figure did not come out right, we check it and credit it back.
Deleted folder: 7 days to change your mind New
A deleted figure first goes to the Deleted folder. Restore it with one click, or delete it for good. After 7 days it is erased from our server, together with its files and versions.
Your next figure is one paragraph away.
Paste your text and see it drawn, labelled and proofread.
Try every studio free