Scientific Schematics and Diagrams

Overview

Scientific schematics and diagrams transform complex concepts into clear visual representations for publication. This skill uses Nano Banana 2 AI for diagram generation with Gemini 3.6 Flash quality review.

How it works:

• Describe your diagram in natural language
• Nano Banana 2 generates publication-quality images automatically
• Gemini 3.6 Flash reviews quality against document-type thresholds
• Smart iteration: Only regenerates if quality is below threshold
• Publication-ready output in minutes
• No coding, templates, or manual drawing required

Quality Thresholds by Document Type:

Simply describe what you want, and Nano Banana 2 creates it. All diagrams are stored in the figures/ subfolder and referenced in papers/posters.

What the output is: a raster PNG at whatever resolution the image model returns. This skill has no vector path and no DPI control — if a journal demands PDF, EPS, or 300 dpi TIFF, convert the PNG downstream and check the result at final print size.

Quick Start: Generate Any Diagram

Create any scientific diagram by simply describing it. Nano Banana 2 handles everything automatically with smart iteration:

# Generate for journal paper (highest quality threshold: 8.5/10)
python scripts/generate_schematic.py "CONSORT participant flow diagram with 500 screened, 150 excluded, 350 randomized" -o figures/consort.png --doc-type journal

# Generate for presentation (lower threshold: 6.5/10 - faster)
python scripts/generate_schematic.py "Transformer encoder-decoder architecture showing multi-head attention" -o figures/transformer.png --doc-type presentation

# Generate for poster (moderate threshold: 7.0/10)
python scripts/generate_schematic.py "MAPK signaling pathway from EGFR to gene transcription" -o figures/mapk_pathway.png --doc-type poster

# Custom max iterations (max 2)
python scripts/generate_schematic.py "Complex circuit diagram with op-amp, resistors, and capacitors" -o figures/circuit.png --iterations 2 --doc-type journal

What happens behind the scenes:

1. Generation 1: Nano Banana 2 creates initial image following scientific diagram best practices
2. Review 1: Gemini 3.6 Flash evaluates quality against document-type threshold
3. Decision: If quality >= threshold → DONE (no more iterations needed!)
4. If below threshold: Improved prompt based on critique, regenerate
5. Repeat: Until quality meets threshold OR max iterations reached

Smart Iteration Benefits:

• ✅ Saves API calls if first generation is good enough
• ✅ Higher quality standards for journal papers
• ✅ Faster turnaround for presentations/posters
• ✅ Appropriate quality for each use case

Output: Versioned images (name_v1.png, name_v2.png), a copy of the winner at the path you asked for, and name_review_log.json with the score, critique, and early-stop reason per iteration.

When the review cannot run — a rate limit, a content filter, a reviewer that answers in some unexpected shape — the image is still generated and saved, but no score is invented for it. The log records "score": null and "reviewed": false with the reason in "review_error", and the run prints Review unavailable — image kept, quality not verified. Treat that image as unchecked and look at it yourself; re-running is worth a try, since the failure is usually transient.

Configuration

Set your OpenRouter API key:

export OPENROUTER_API_KEY='your_api_key_here'

Get an API key at: https://openrouter.ai/keys

Data leaves the machine. Your prompt is sent to OpenRouter to generate the image, and the generated image is sent back to OpenRouter for the quality review. Both are subject to OpenRouter's data policies and those of the underlying model providers. Do not describe unpublished data, patient information, or anything under embargo in the prompt.

AI Generation Best Practices

Effective Prompts for Scientific Diagrams:

✓ Good prompts (specific, detailed):

• "CONSORT flowchart showing participant flow from screening (n=500) through randomization to final analysis"
• "Transformer neural network architecture with encoder stack on left, decoder stack on right, showing multi-head attention and cross-attention connections"
• "Biological signaling cascade: EGFR receptor → RAS → RAF → MEK → ERK → nucleus, with phosphorylation steps labeled"
• "Block diagram of IoT system: sensors → microcontroller → WiFi module → cloud server → mobile app"

✗ Avoid vague prompts:

• "Make a flowchart" (too generic)
• "Neural network" (which type? what components?)
• "Pathway diagram" (which pathway? what molecules?)

Key elements to include:

• Type: Flowchart, architecture diagram, pathway, circuit, etc.
• Components: Specific elements to include
• Flow/Direction: How elements connect (left-to-right, top-to-bottom)
• Labels: Key annotations or text to include
• Style: Any specific visual requirements

Scientific Quality Guidelines (automatically applied):

• Clean white/light background
• High contrast for readability
• Clear, readable labels (minimum 10pt)
• Professional typography (sans-serif fonts)
• Colorblind-friendly colors (Okabe-Ito palette)
• Proper spacing to prevent crowding
• Scale bars, legends, axes where appropriate

When to Use This Skill

This skill should be used when:

• Creating neural network architecture diagrams (Transformers, CNNs, RNNs, etc.)
• Illustrating system architectures and data flow diagrams
• Drawing methodology flowcharts for study design (CONSORT, PRISMA)
• Visualizing algorithm workflows and processing pipelines
• Creating circuit diagrams and electrical schematics
• Depicting biological pathways and molecular interactions
• Generating network topologies and hierarchical structures
• Illustrating conceptual frameworks and theoretical models
• Designing block diagrams for technical papers

How to Use This Skill

Simply describe your diagram in natural language. Nano Banana 2 generates it automatically:

python scripts/generate_schematic.py "your diagram description" -o output.png

That's it! The AI handles:

• ✓ Layout and composition
• ✓ Labels and annotations
• ✓ Colors and styling
• ✓ Quality review and refinement
• ✓ Publication-ready output

Works for all diagram types:

• Flowcharts (CONSORT, PRISMA, etc.)
• Neural network architectures
• Biological pathways
• Circuit diagrams
• System architectures
• Block diagrams
• Any scientific visualization

No coding, no templates, no manual drawing required.

AI Generation Mode (Nano Banana 2 + Gemini 3.6 Flash Review)

Smart Iterative Refinement, Advanced Usage, and Examples

The generate-review-refine loop, the Python API and command-line options, prompt engineering guidance, and four worked examples (CONSORT flowchart, neural network architecture, biological pathway, system architecture) are in references/iterative_refinement.md.

The loop stops as soon as the review passes, so a simple diagram usually costs one iteration; only complex figures use the full budget.

Command-Line Usage

The main entry point for generating scientific schematics:

# Basic usage
python scripts/generate_schematic.py "diagram description" -o output.png

# Custom iterations (max 2)
python scripts/generate_schematic.py "complex diagram" -o diagram.png --iterations 2

# Verbose mode
python scripts/generate_schematic.py "diagram" -o out.png -v

Note: The Nano Banana 2 AI generation system includes automatic quality review in its iterative refinement process. Each iteration is evaluated for scientific accuracy, clarity, and accessibility.

Best Practices Summary

Design principles — ask for these in the prompt

1. Clarity over complexity - Simplify, remove unnecessary elements
2. Consistent styling - Describe the same visual conventions across a paper's figures
3. Colorblind accessibility - Ask for the Okabe-Ito palette and redundant encoding
4. Appropriate typography - Sans-serif fonts, generously sized labels
5. Logical flow - State the direction (left-to-right, top-to-bottom) explicitly

The generator applies all of these by default, but naming them in your own words for the specific diagram works better than relying on the built-in guidelines alone.

What the pipeline cannot do

1. Vector output - PNG only; no PDF, SVG, or EPS is produced
2. Resolution control - the image model chooses; there is no DPI flag
3. Color space - RGB only; convert for CMYK print workflows downstream
4. Exact line weights or text sizes - describe them in the prompt, then verify by eye

For a journal that requires vector art or 300+ dpi TIFF, convert the PNG after generation and check the result at the size it will actually be printed.

Integration Guidelines

1. Include in LaTeX - Use \includegraphics{} for generated images
2. Caption thoroughly - Describe all elements and abbreviations
3. Reference in text - Explain diagram in narrative flow
4. Maintain consistency - Same style across all figures in paper
5. Version control - Keep prompts and generated images in repository

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Generation is stochastic and iteration is capped at 2, so the levers that actually change the outcome are the prompt, the document type, and re-running. There is no post-processing step and no quality-checking library in this skill: everything you can inspect lives in the generated PNG and in <name>_review_log.json.

The diagram is wrong

Overlapping text, crowded elements, or arrows that miss their targets

• Name the layout in the prompt: "vertical flow, one box per row, generous spacing between stages"
• Name the connections: "arrow from RAF to MEK labelled phosphorylation", not "show the cascade"
• Re-run. Two runs of the same prompt differ, and a bad layout is often just an unlucky draw

Content is scientifically wrong or a component is missing

• List the components explicitly, with counts and labels — the model will not infer them
• Read the critique field in the review log: the reviewer usually names what it saw missing

Wrong text in labels, or figure numbering baked into the image

• The prompt already forbids "Figure 1:" captions; if one appears anyway, re-run
• Misspelled labels are the most common failure of image models. Read every label before using it

The score seems wrong

Score is lower than the diagram deserves

• Read the critique before re-running; the reviewer's complaint is often legitimate and specific
• The threshold, not the score, decides whether it iterates — --doc-type journal demands 8.5

A run stops at a score below the threshold

• That is the iteration cap. --iterations 2 is the maximum; the last image is kept and reported with its real score

"score": null and "reviewed": false in the log

• The review call failed or answered in an unusable shape. The image is fine and was kept; only its quality was never measured. Check "review_error", look at the image yourself, and re-run

Setup

Error: OPENROUTER_API_KEY not found

• export OPENROUTER_API_KEY='sk-or-v1-...', or add it to a .env file, or pass --api-key

Error: requests library not found

• uv pip install requests

Any API error — run with -v to see the request, the model slug, and the full error body

Resources and References

Detailed References

Load these files for comprehensive information on specific topics:

• references/iterative_refinement.md - The generate-review-refine loop, the Python API, every command-line option, prompt engineering guidance, and four worked examples
• references/best_practices.md - Publication standards and accessibility guidelines to draw on when writing prompts and when judging the result

External Resources

Publication Standards

• Nature Figure Guidelines: https://www.nature.com/nature/for-authors/final-submission
• Science Figure Guidelines: https://www.science.org/content/page/instructions-preparing-initial-manuscript
• CONSORT Diagram: http://www.consort-statement.org/consort-statement/flow-diagram

Integration with Other Skills

This skill works synergistically with:

• Scientific Writing - Diagrams follow figure best practices
• Scientific Visualization - Shares color palettes and styling
• LaTeX Posters - Generate diagrams for poster presentations
• Research Grants - Methodology diagrams for proposals
• Peer Review - Evaluate diagram clarity and accessibility

Quick Reference Checklist

Before submitting diagrams, verify:

Read the review log (this is the only automated check there is)

• <name>_review_log.json exists and "reviewed" is true on the final iteration
• "final_score" is a real number, not null, and meets the threshold for your document type
• Read the "critique" — the reviewer's remaining issues are listed even on a passing score
• If more than one version was generated, compare _v1 and _v2 and keep the better one

Look at the image yourself

• Every label is spelled correctly — image models misspell text, and no automated check here catches it
• No overlapping or clipped text
• All arrows connect the elements they are meant to connect
• The science is right: correct components, correct direction, nothing invented
• Units and counts match what you asked for

Accessibility (by eye, or in an external checker)

• Colorblind-safe palette, and the encoding is not colour alone
• Still readable converted to grayscale
• Adequate contrast between adjacent elements

Publication fit

• Consistent styling with the other figures in the manuscript
• Legible at the column width it will actually be printed at
• Converted to the journal's required format if PNG is not accepted
• Caption written, with every abbreviation defined
• Referenced in the manuscript text

Version control

• The prompt is recorded (it is stored verbatim in the review log)
• Review log committed alongside the image, so the score is auditable
• The command that regenerates the figure is written down

Final Integration Check

• Figure displays correctly in compiled manuscript
• Cross-references work (\ref{} points to correct figure)
• Figure number matches text citations
• Caption appears on correct page relative to figure
• No compilation warnings or errors related to figure

Environment Setup

# Required
export OPENROUTER_API_KEY='your_api_key_here'

# Get key at: https://openrouter.ai/keys

Getting Started

Simplest possible usage:

python scripts/generate_schematic.py "your diagram description" -o output.png

Use this skill to create clear, accessible, publication-quality diagrams that effectively communicate complex scientific concepts. The AI-powered workflow with iterative refinement ensures diagrams meet professional standards.