Refbox

About Refbox

Refbox is a fundamental desktop application designed to solve a persistent problem in creative workflows: the disruptive act of window switching. At its core, Refbox is a floating reference manager that allows artists, designers, animators, and other visual professionals to keep their inspiration and resources visible at all times. It functions by letting users pin images, GIFs, videos, and notes into always-on-top frames that float above any other application. This foundational approach eliminates the need to constantly alt-tab between a creative software and a folder, browser, or note-taking app, thereby preserving a state of deep focus and flow.

The tool is built for professionals across disciplines like 3D art, animation, UI/UX design, illustration, concept art, motion graphics, photography, and pixel art. Its main value proposition is organized visual access without distraction. Users can gather media from the web, their computer, or clipboard into a central sidebar and then choose how to view it: in a Masonry grid, as individual floating windows on the desktop, or in a full-screen gallery for secondary monitors. By integrating markdown-enabled notes and clickable bookmarks directly into the reference ecosystem, Refbox consolidates the entire inspirational toolkit into one always-accessible space. It is the essential companion for any creative who needs their references at their fingertips, not buried in tabs and folders.

Features of Refbox

Always-on-Top Floating Frames

This is the foundational feature of Refbox. Any image, video, GIF, or note can be dragged from the sidebar and placed directly onto your desktop as a separate, resizable window. Crucially, these frames stay on top of all other application windows, including your primary design or animation software. This means your reference material is perpetually visible as you work, eliminating the need to switch contexts. You can minimize, lock, or rearrange these frames to create a custom reference layout that fits your specific task.

Masonry, Desktop, and Gallery View Modes

Refbox provides three distinct ways to organize and view your reference collections, catering to different workflow stages. Masonry Mode presents your items in a Pinterest-style, auto-arranging grid within the sidebar, ideal for browsing a large collection. The Desktop Mode allows you to drag individual items out as floating frames for a multi-window workspace. Gallery Mode offers a clean, full-screen presentation perfect for second monitors, letting you flip through references like a slideshow for comparison and review.

Integrated Markdown Notes & Bookmarks

Beyond visual media, Refbox understands that creative work involves textual ideas, instructions, and resources. The app includes a robust notes feature that supports Markdown formatting, enabling you to create styled text, checklists for todos, and project instructions without leaving the environment. Simultaneously, you can save clickable links as bookmarks to tutorials, articles, or asset libraries. This integration keeps all necessary project information—both visual and textual—in one centralized, always-accessible location.

Advanced Media Controls

Refbox offers precise control over your reference media with tools tailored for professional use. For motion references, you can scrub through videos and GIFs with frame-by-frame playback to study movement in detail. For images, built-in cropping lets you focus on specific details, and a color picker tool allows you to sample colors directly from any media and copy them to your clipboard. It also supports specialized file types like SVGs and provides a pixel rendering mode for accurate pixel art viewing.

Use Cases of Refbox

Digital Illustration and Concept Art

Illustrators and concept artists often work with dozens of reference images for anatomy, lighting, color palettes, and environments. With Refbox, they can pull all these images into floating frames around their canvas in Photoshop or Clip Studio Paint. They can keep a color palette note open, have a GIF of a animal's movement playing frame-by-frame, and maintain a checklist of painting stages—all without ever covering their work or switching windows, leading to a faster, more accurate creative process.

3D Modeling and Animation

3D artists require constant visual feedback from reference images, video clips, and model sheets. Refbox allows them to pin orthographic views of a character to the screen while modeling in Blender or Maya. Animators can float a video reference loop next to their timeline, using frame-by-frame controls to match poses precisely. The ability to lock transparent frames over their 3D viewport means they can trace or match proportions directly, significantly streamlining the modeling and animation pipeline.

UI/UX and Graphic Design

Designers compiling mood boards, brand guidelines, and component libraries need to reference multiple assets simultaneously. Refbox's Masonry grid is perfect for collecting inspiration, while floating frames let them keep a logo SVG, a brand color note, and a typography scale visible next to Figma or Sketch. The screenshot-from-link feature allows quick capture of website layouts for analysis, and instant collection swapping lets them manage references for multiple client projects efficiently.

Motion Graphics and Video Editing

Motion designers and video editors work with dynamic timelines and need to reference style frames, storyboards, and asset lists. Refbox's gallery mode on a second monitor provides a clean view of storyboard sequences, while floating frames can hold client feedback notes or color grading references over their editing software like After Effects or DaVinci Resolve. Scrubbing through GIFs or video clips frame-by-frame is essential for timing animations and transitions correctly.

Frequently Asked Questions

What platforms does Refbox support?

Refbox is currently available for macOS and Windows operating systems. It is designed as a native desktop application to ensure reliable performance, system integration for features like always-on-top windows, and efficient use of your computer's resources. This focus on desktop platforms allows it to function seamlessly alongside other professional creative software used in typical workflows.

How do I get media into Refbox?

Adding media to Refbox is designed to be simple and flexible. You can drag and drop image, video, or GIF files directly from your computer's file explorer into the Refbox sidebar. You can also copy media from a web browser or other application and paste it directly into Refbox using your clipboard (Ctrl/Cmd + V). For web content, you can paste a URL to create a bookmark or use the built-in feature to generate a screenshot of the webpage.

Can I organize my references into different projects?

Yes, Refbox allows you to create multiple, separate Collections. This is a fundamental organizational feature. You might have one collection for a character design project, another for a website redesign, and a third for personal inspiration. You can instantly swap between these collections with a single click, keeping your workspace clean and context-specific. All items within a collection, including floating frames, notes, and bookmarks, are saved and restored when you switch.

Does Refbox work with multiple monitors?

Absolutely. Refbox is built for multi-monitor setups, which are common in creative professions. The main sidebar can be positioned on any monitor. More importantly, the individual floating frames you create can be moved and resized across all your displays. The full-screen Gallery Mode is particularly useful for dedicating an entire secondary monitor to a slideshow or grid view of your reference images, providing an immersive, distraction-free reference station.

Pricing of Refbox

Refbox is offered as a one-time purchase license, not a subscription. This means you pay a single, upfront fee to own the software for use on your personal computer, including access to future updates. This pricing model is designed to be straightforward and predictable, aligning with the tool's foundational goal of reducing friction in the creative process. Specific pricing details and purchase options are available on the official Refbox website.