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.
- 4generators
- 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.
03
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, logos, 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.
Logo studio New
Logos for labs, projects and posters: ready designs, colour palettes, font pairs, curved text, monograms and any canvas size, or start from a blank canvas.
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.
Picture 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
Print-quality downloads, and every tool at your fingertips.
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.
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.
Your next figure is one paragraph away.
Paste your text and see it drawn, labelled and proofread.
Create 2 figures free