How to Install BeeRef on Windows, Linux, or macOS

Updated

BeeRef ships as a prebuilt file per operating system, so installation is mostly a download-and-run process. Get the file for your OS from the latest release, then follow the platform-specific step below. Linux users must set executable rights before running it; macOS users who hit launch problems should follow the detailed instructions linked from the release page.

Windows

  1. Download the Windows file from the latest release.
  2. Run it. No separate installer steps are described on the BeeRef page.

If BeeRef doesn't start, check the log at:

C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\BeeRef\BeeRef.log

Linux

  1. Download the Linux file from the latest release. The different Linux versions are built on different Ubuntu versions — they should work on other distros too, but you may have to try which one works.
  2. Give the file executable rights before running it.
  3. Run the file.

Optional — to make BeeRef appear in your app menu:

  • Save the desktop file from the release section into ~/.local/share/applications
  • Save the logo
  • Adjust the path names in the desktop file to match where you installed BeeRef

If BeeRef doesn't start, the log is at:

/home/USERNAME/.config/BeeRef/BeeRef.log

macOS

  1. Download the macOS file from the latest release.
  2. Run it.

macOS X users who have problems running BeeRef should look at the detailed instructions referenced from the release page.

If BeeRef doesn't start, the log is at:

/home/USERNAME/.config/BeeRef/BeeRef.log

Verifying it works and troubleshooting

Once running, you can confirm the app is behaving by opening Help -> Show Debug Log to view log output. If BeeRef doesn't start at all, use the log file paths above for your platform.

What you get after install

BeeRef is a reference image viewer: you arrange reference images and view them while you create, with a minimal interface meant not to get in the way. Features include moving, scaling, rotating, cropping and flipping images; mass-scaling to the same width, height or size; mass-arranging vertically, horizontally or for optimal space usage; text notes; and an always-on-top mode with the title bar disabled so the window can float above your art program.

Note on the .bee file format: all images are embedded as PNG or JPG inside a sqlite database, stored in a sqlar table. You can extract them independently of BeeRef with:

sqlite3 myfile.bee -Axv

Export options from inside BeeRef are planned, but the sqlite command above always works.

BeeRef is published under the GNU General Public License v3.0.