Refbox

About Refbox

Tired of constant alt-tabbing and window switching that shatters your creative flow? Meet Refbox, the revolutionary floating reference app designed to keep your inspiration visible and accessible at all times! It's the ultimate digital companion for artists, designers, animators, and creators of all kinds who need their references right where the action is. Imagine pinning images, GIFs, videos, and notes in always-on-top, resizable frames that float seamlessly above your primary work applications like Photoshop, Blender, or Figma. No more digging through cluttered folders or losing precious momentum! Refbox centralizes all your inspiration into a sleek, organized sidebar. You can view everything in a beautiful Masonry Mode, drag individual items onto your desktop as independent windows, or use a full-screen Gallery for a second monitor. Beyond visuals, add markdown-enabled notes for ideas and checklists, save clickable bookmarks to tutorials, and scrub through videos frame-by-frame. Create multiple collections for different projects and swap between them instantly. Refbox is built for professionals who can't afford distractions, transforming a chaotic reference process into one of organized, effortless focus. It's not just a tool; it's your essential workflow upgrade for faster, more accurate, and more inspired creation!

Features of Refbox

Always-On-Top Floating Frames

Say goodbye to window switching forever! The core magic of Refbox is its ability to pin any reference—images, videos, GIFs, or notes—in resizable, transparent frames that stay on top of all your other applications. Whether you're sketching, designing, or modeling, your inspiration stays visible right beside your canvas. You can minimize frames to peek at apps behind them or lock them in place for references you can work directly over, ensuring nothing blocks your creative process!

Versatile Media & Organization Hub

Refbox is your central command center for all creative assets! Effortlessly add content from the web, your computer, or directly from your clipboard. Organize everything in a floating sidebar and view it in multiple powerful layouts: a dynamic Masonry Mode (like Pinterest), a clean full-screen Gallery for second monitors, or as individual draggable windows on your desktop. Create separate Collections for different projects and swap between your mood boards, tutorials, and asset libraries with a single click!

Smart Tools for Precision Work

Refbox goes beyond simple viewing with intelligent tools that supercharge your workflow! Scrub through video and GIF timelines with precise frame-by-frame playback, perfect for animation. Use the built-in color picker to grab any hue from your media instantly. Crop images to focus on details, take website screenshots by pasting a link, and even view SVG files as images. These thoughtful features eliminate the need for other apps, saving you countless clicks and hours!

Interactive Notes & Bookmarks

Keep your thoughts and resources seamlessly integrated with your visuals! Refbox features markdown-enabled notes where you can jot down ideas, create to-do lists with checkboxes, and write instructions without ever leaving the app. Plus, save any URL as a clickable bookmark directly within your collection. Now, your crucial tutorial links, article references, and inspiration pages are just one click away, living right alongside the media they support!

Use Cases of Refbox

Digital Illustration & Concept Art

For illustrators and concept artists, visual reference is everything! Use Refbox to pin character poses, environment shots, and color palettes in floating windows around your drawing software. Compare sketches to references side-by-side, use frame-by-frame GIF playback to study motion, and keep your project brief and notes visible. This seamless setup eliminates disruptive tab-switching, letting you fully immerse yourself in the creative act and produce more authentic, detailed artwork faster!

UI/UX & Graphic Design Workflows

Streamline your design process from mood board to mockup! Designers can use Refbox to collect competitor screenshots, typography samples, and icon sets in a Masonry grid. Drag individual UI patterns or color swatches into floating frames for direct comparison while you work in Figma or Sketch. Keep client feedback and project requirements in markdown notes that are always visible, ensuring every design decision is informed and on-brief without leaving your flow state!

3D Modeling & Animation

Precision is key in 3D work, and Refbox delivers! Modelers can keep orthographic reference images, texture photos, and style frames pinned around their viewport in Blender or Maya. Animators can load video reference and scrub through it frame-by-frame in a floating player to perfectly match motion. The ability to lock transparent reference frames over your software viewport is a game-changer for achieving accurate proportions and lifelike movement without constant toggling!

Motion Graphics & Video Editing

Maintain your creative vision throughout complex editing timelines! Motion artists and editors can use Refbox to keep storyboards, style frames, and inspiration videos in a gallery on a second monitor. Quickly flip through references like a slideshow to maintain visual consistency. Keep production notes, edit lists, and tutorial links for specific VFX techniques as clickable bookmarks right within the app, creating a hyper-efficient post-production command center!

Frequently Asked Questions

What platforms does Refbox support?

Refbox is currently available for macOS and Windows! It's built as a native desktop application to ensure high performance, seamless system integration, and access to powerful features like true always-on-top windows. This allows it to work flawlessly with professional creative software suites used by designers, artists, and animators on both major operating systems.

Can I use Refbox with multiple monitors?

Absolutely, and it's a fantastic experience! Refbox is built for multi-monitor setups. You can use the full-screen Gallery Mode to turn a secondary display into a dedicated, immersive reference board. Alternatively, you can drag individual floating reference frames from your main screen and position them anywhere across your monitor array, giving you ultimate flexibility to organize your workspace exactly how you need it.

How do I add content to Refbox?

Adding inspiration is incredibly fast and flexible! You can drag and drop files directly from your computer, paste image data from your clipboard (Ctrl+C/V or Cmd+C/V), or import media from the web using the built-in tools. You can also paste website URLs to create screenshots or save them as clickable bookmarks. Refbox is designed to capture references from wherever you find them in just a couple of seconds.

Does Refbox work offline?

Yes, it does! Once you've added your images, videos, and notes to a collection, Refbox works completely offline. Your references are stored locally on your machine, so you can access them anytime, anywhere, without an internet connection. This makes it perfect for reliable, distraction-free work sessions, whether you're on a plane, in a cafe, or just want to disconnect from the web and focus.