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ModeReference to figure: style transfer for scientific figures

Reference to Figure: borrow a look, keep your data

Reference to figure lets you hand LabFig a scientific figure whose visual language you admire — a panel from your last paper, a labmate's diagram, or a figure from your target journal — then upload your own content. The reference to figure AI repaints your panels in that style: the same palette, typography, arrow shapes, and box treatment, while your data, labels, and structure stay exactly yours. It is style transfer, not copy-paste — ideal for keeping a paper's biology figures or machine learning diagrams visually consistent.

Match a styleSee examples

†One reference in, a whole paper's worth of matching scientific figures out via reference to figure

Reference to figure result: a new workflow scientific figure rendered in the visual style learned from a reference figure
Reference to figure reading a scientific figure for its palette, typography and arrow style before style transfer

Your content, repainted in the reference's visual language

Matches style, not content
Consistent across a paperLicensing-aware
Style transfer

Reference to figure: one reference, three target styles

With reference to figure, the same reference scientific figure can be pushed toward very different visual languages. Pick a target look and watch the result repaint — your content stays the same, only the style changes.

Reference single-cell workflow figure used as the style source
Reference figure
Workflow figure repainted in a rich, panelled Cell-style visual language
Matched to target style
Live workbench

Reference to figure: match a reference style on this page

Upload BOTH images here — your own content figure AND the reference whose style you want to borrow — then let reference to figure repaint your scientific figure. The uploader accepts multiple files, so drop them in together, then generate.

Image → Figure
192/2000

Describe the figure you need — or add a reference image to transform.

Advanced
Cost 4 credits·Remaining 0 credits

Your figure will appear here

Pick a mode · Describe the figure · Generate

Why reference to figure

Reference to figure: style transfer, done the scientific way.

Reference to figure does one thing precisely: it carries a visual language from a scientific figure you trust onto your own content — never the other way around.

The key idea

Matches style, not your content

LabFig reads the reference for its palette, typography, arrow shapes, and box treatment — and applies only that. Your panels, your data, and your labels stay exactly as you uploaded them, so you borrow the look without borrowing the meaning.

PaletteTypographyArrow & box style
Consistency

Consistency across a whole paper or thesis

Pick one approved figure and reuse it as the reference for every other panel. Figure 1 sets the look; Figures 2 through 8 inherit it automatically, so a multi-chapter thesis or a long manuscript reads as one coherent visual set.

Panel-to-panelMulti-chapterOne coherent set
For your lab

Save a reusable look for your lab

Keep your reference figure on hand and hand it to every new student or collaborator. Instead of writing a style guide nobody reads, you give them one image — and every figure they produce already matches the lab's house style.

Lab house styleOnboard new studentsNo style guide needed

Reference to Figure FAQ

Common questions about reference to figure — transferring a reference figure's style onto your own scientific figure.

Reference to figure is LabFig's style-transfer mode. You upload two images — your own content figure and a reference whose look you want — and reference to figure repaints your content in the reference's visual language: its palette, typography, arrow style, and box treatment. You get your data in a new look, not a copy of the reference scientific figure. For a worked example, read how authors make AI figures for machine learning papers.

Just the look. LabFig takes the reference's colors, line weights, typography, and layout conventions and nothing else. The content, panels, numbers, and labels all come from the figure you upload as your own — the reference never contributes its subject matter, only its visual style.

A clean, high-resolution scientific figure with a clear and consistent visual language works best for reference to figure — distinct colors, readable typography, and obvious arrow and box conventions. Busy screenshots or low-resolution scans give the model less to learn from. One strong reference beats several conflicting ones.

Yes — that is the most common use. Upload your approved Figure 1 as the reference, then upload each new panel as your content. Every panel inherits the same palette, typography, and arrow style, so the whole multi-panel paper or thesis stays visually consistent without manual restyling.

Use only references you have the right to use — your own figures, your lab's work, or material you are licensed to reuse. Style transfer borrows visual language rather than copying content, but you remain responsible for respecting the source's license and citing it where required. When in doubt, reference your own past work.

Text to figure builds a scientific figure from a written description with no image input. Reference to figure starts from images — your content plus a style reference — and its job is to match a look you already have. Use text to figure to create from scratch, and reference to figure to make new content fit an existing visual standard. Once the look is matched, you can polish the result with the figure enhancer or fine-tune it on the vector canvas before export.

Make your next scientific figure match the last one

Drop in your content and a reference style, and let reference to figure return a matching, journal-ready scientific figure in minutes — free while you explore.

Upload both images together · Your data stays yours · Editable vector output

Reference to Figure: AI Figure Style Transfer | LabFig