Does Loupedeck have a pint-sized rival? TourBox is not much bigger than a touchpad
You can use Photoshop with a keyboard and a mouse, but many users find these regular computer input devices limiting and frustrating, hence the popularity of graphics tablets, touchpads and the amazing Loupedeck editing console.
Well, now a startup called Tour Tech has launched TourBox, a gadget closer in size to a (giant) mouse than the Loupedeck+, but using the same principle of knobs, wheels and buttons to speed up repetitive editing tasks.
The idea is that designers and photographers should be able to stop wasting time on adjustments and concentrate on creativity. As well as working with Photoshop, Tour Tech says TourBox will also work with Lightroom, and can be adapted for use with any creative software.
Its designers say TourBox offers a “natural extension” of Photoshop’s editing tools and can work alongside a regular mouse and graphics tablet. Its controls are fully customisable and can be used for adjusting brush size, hardness flow and opacity, for example or to zoom in and out or undo/redo editing steps.
This sounds like it could have equal merit for both artists and photographers; while one hand is applying brushstrokes with a mouse or a graphics tablet, the other can be adjusting brush properties on-the-fly via the TourBox. This could be a real time-saver for digital painting, creating masks or when cloning out unwanted objects. Rather than attempting to replace a mouse or graphics tablet, the TourBox offers a two-handed approach to editing tasks and tool adjustments. Its designers say in beta testing its users were up to speed in “minutes”.
The TourBox has already exceeded its kickstarter funding target and is due to go one sale in December 2018. The final price will be $149 (about £113) though it’s available right now at reduced prices via pre-release ‘pledges’. Worldwide shipping will be free, though local duties and taxes may apply, depending on your territory.
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Rod is an independent photography journalist and editor, and a long-standing Digital Camera World contributor, having previously worked as DCW's Group Reviews editor. Before that he has been technique editor on N-Photo, Head of Testing for the photography division and Camera Channel editor on TechRadar, as well as contributing to many other publications. He has been writing about photography technique, photo editing and digital cameras since they first appeared, and before that began his career writing about film photography. He has used and reviewed practically every interchangeable lens camera launched in the past 20 years, from entry-level DSLRs to medium format cameras, together with lenses, tripods, gimbals, light meters, camera bags and more. Rod has his own camera gear blog at fotovolo.com but also writes about photo-editing applications and techniques at lifeafterphotoshop.com
