Multi-Panel Figure Maker for Journal Submission

Arrange your panels at the journal's column width, label them a, b, c, and export TIFF, PDF, PNG and an editable PPTX

Upload up to 16 panels, pick a journal preset or a custom width, and lay them out on a grid. Every panel shows its effective resolution at printed size, so you know which ones are too small before you export.

No sign-in needed to editNo AI processing of your panelsPresets for 10 journals and publishersTIFF, PDF, PNG and editable PPTX

What is a multi-panel figure maker?

Most journal figures are several panels — blots, micrographs, plots, a schematic — combined into one image with a, b, c labels. Today that usually means aligning images by hand in PowerPoint, Illustrator or Photoshop, then working out the width, DPI and file format the journal asks for. This tool does that one job: you upload the panels, choose the journal, arrange them on a grid, and export the figure at the right physical width, with a record of exactly what was done to each panel.

How it works

Upload your panels, choose a journal preset or a custom width, arrange and label them on a grid, then review the live checks and export. Editing happens in your browser; files are uploaded only when you export.

  1. 1

    Upload your panels

    Add up to 16 PNG, JPEG or TIFF files. They stay in your browser while you edit, and you do not need an account.

  2. 2

    Choose a journal or a custom width

    Pick one of ten presets — Nature, Science, Cell, PLOS ONE, Wiley, Elsevier, Springer, IEEE, RSC Chemical Science or JCI — or enter your own width.

  3. 3

    Arrange and label

    Set the grid, let panels span rows or columns, and drag to rearrange. Crop, rotate or flip where needed. Labels a, b, c are added automatically; you choose the style, size, weight and position.

  4. 4

    Check and export

    The checks update as you work: each panel's effective resolution at its printed size, the figure's width and height, and the label size. Download a free watermarked preview, or export the full set of files.

What you get in the export

One zip file containing five files.

  • TIFF — the flattened figure with LZW compression, at 300, 600, 1000 or 1200 dpi.
  • PDF — each panel embedded at its original pixels, without resampling.
  • PNG — the same flattened figure, for slides, preprints and quick sharing.
  • PPTX — an editable slide in which every panel and every label is a separate object.
  • Processing record — a text file listing, for each panel, the file hash, crop box, rotation or flip, scale factor and effective DPI.

What this tool will not do to your images

Experimental images are data. The tool is built so that you can state exactly what happened to each panel.

  • No AI processing of your panels: no AI upscaling, no background removal, no generated pixels.
  • No brightness, contrast or colour adjustment — neither automatic nor manual. The only format conversions are the ones a flattened RGB file needs: CMYK or ICC-tagged panels are converted to sRGB, 16-bit panels to 8-bit, and transparency is filled with white. Each one is noted in the processing record.
  • Pixel content changes in only three ways: cropping, 90° rotation or flip, and uniform scaling to the size the panel has in the figure.
  • The PDF export embeds each panel at its original pixels, without resampling.
  • Every crop, rotation, flip and scale factor is written to the processing record, together with a hash of each original file.

This describes what the tool does. Whether a figure satisfies a particular journal's image policy is for you and the journal to judge, so read their current instructions.

Journal presets

Presets are available for Nature, Science, Cell, PLOS ONE, Wiley, Elsevier, Springer, IEEE, RSC Chemical Science and JCI. They are based on the publishers' published figure guidelines. Guidelines change, and an individual journal can differ from its publisher, so confirm the numbers against your journal's current author instructions before you submit.

See the journal figure requirements table

Pricing

Arranging, labelling, the live checks and the watermarked preview PNG are free and need no account. Exporting the full set of files costs 10 credits per figure, and exporting the same figure again within 24 hours costs nothing extra. New accounts receive 10 credits at sign-up, which covers one export if used within a day, plus 5 credits each day that expire the same day. Credit packs start at $9.90 for 100 credits.

View pricing

Limits in this version

  • Raster panels only: PNG, JPEG and TIFF. Vector PDF and SVG panels are not supported yet.
  • No scale bars or text annotations yet.
  • RGB output only; there is no CMYK export.
  • 16-bit TIFF panels are exported as 8-bit.

Multi-Panel Figure Maker FAQ

Is the multi-panel figure maker free?

Arranging panels, labelling, the live checks and a watermarked preview PNG are free, and you do not need to sign in. Exporting the TIFF, PDF, PNG, PPTX and processing record costs 10 credits per figure; exporting the same figure again within 24 hours costs nothing extra. New accounts receive 10 credits at sign-up — enough for one export if you use them within a day — plus 5 credits each day that expire the same day. Credit packs start at $9.90 for 100 credits.

Which journals are supported?

There are presets for Nature, Science, Cell, PLOS ONE, Wiley, Elsevier, Springer, IEEE, RSC Chemical Science and JCI, based on the publishers' published figure guidelines. For any other journal, enter a custom width. Because guidelines change and journals within one publisher can differ, confirm the values against your journal's current author instructions.

Does the tool change my images?

Only in ways you choose and can report. Pixel content changes by cropping, by 90° rotation or flip, and by uniform scaling to the size the panel has in the figure. There is no AI processing and no brightness, contrast or colour adjustment. Format conversions (CMYK or ICC-tagged panels to sRGB, 16-bit to 8-bit, transparency onto white) apply to the whole panel and are noted in the record. The PDF export embeds each panel at its original pixels without resampling, and the processing record lists the crop box, rotation or flip, scale factor and effective DPI for every panel, with a hash of the original file.

What DPI should I export at?

The TIFF can be exported at 300, 600, 1000 or 1200 dpi. As a rule of thumb, many journals ask for about 300 dpi for photographs and micrographs, about 600 dpi for figures that combine images with text or lines, and 1000 to 1200 dpi for pure line art — but your journal's instructions decide. A higher export DPI does not add detail to a panel whose original has too few pixels; the per-panel check tells you where that is the case.

Why is a panel flagged red, and why does enlarging it not help?

A panel is flagged when its effective resolution is below what the selected journal asks for. Effective resolution is the pixel width of the panel after cropping, divided by the width it is printed at in inches: a 900-pixel-wide image printed 89 mm (3.5 in) wide is about 257 dpi, short of a 300 dpi requirement. Enlarging the image file or exporting at a higher DPI only interpolates the pixels you already have and adds no detail. What does help is giving the panel less width in the layout or going back to a higher-resolution original.

Can I edit the result in PowerPoint?

Yes. The export includes a PPTX file in which each panel is a separate picture and each label is a separate text object, placed as in your layout. Open it in PowerPoint to move a panel, change a label or reuse the figure in a talk. If you edit it there, the TIFF, PDF and processing record from the export no longer describe the edited version.

What happens to the files I upload?

While you edit, your panels stay in your browser and nothing is uploaded. When you export, the original files are uploaded so the output can be built, and they are deleted when the export finishes. The exported files are returned to you as a download and are not stored on the server.

Does it support vector panels, CMYK or 16-bit TIFF?

Not in this version. Panels must be raster images (PNG, JPEG or TIFF); vector PDF and SVG panels are not supported yet, and there are no scale bars or text annotations yet. Output is RGB only, with no CMYK export. 16-bit TIFF panels are exported as 8-bit.

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