The Image Collector, Download Images From The Internet

Martin Brinkmann
Sep 22, 2011
Updated • Dec 7, 2012
Image, Software
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10

Most applications that you use to download images from the Internet are browser based. There are a handful of exceptions though, like the excellent Bulk Image Downloader which makes it a lot easier to download a lot of pictures from websites.

The Image Collector is a free software for Windows that works without a browser. It currently supports five different Internet sites where images are posted and uploaded to. The five sites in question are divided into a teen group made up of 4Chan and Deviantart, and an All group with the three image hosting websites Imgur, Photobucket and Picasa.

A double-click on one of the supported services displays recent photos as thumbnails in the program interface. A right-click on an image host displays categories that are available on the site. For 4Chan, that's every group available on site but the 18+ groups.

the image collector

A double-click displays the image in full size on the screen, a right-click a context menu with options to download all images that are currently on screen. For that, you should define categories first. This is done by pressing F3 to open the categories manager.

item categories

Here you can configure categories and link each category to a folder on your system. Images can then be downloaded into a category by selecting the category with a left-click, a right-click on a photo and the selection of Download All from the context menu.

I do have a few issues with the program. It first does not seem to be possible to download individual photos, it seems to be all or nothing. More pressing than that is that there is no search to find images that you are looking for. A search coupled with potent filters like image resolution would make the software that much more usable.

There is also a premium version available which adds other image hosting sites to the program. Windows users can download The Image Collector from the developer website. Please note that the program requires the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0. It is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Microsoft Windows operating system.

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Comments

  1. Jem said on February 16, 2018 at 11:47 pm
    Reply

    It said “PhotoBucket” was included and I downloaded and there was no option for Photobucket so useless.

  2. Paul said on September 28, 2011 at 1:39 am
    Reply

    Joseph, I’m glad you’ve commented. I’ve emailed you over concerns I have about copyright. I have many photographs on deviantart that I have deliberately chosen not to enable download for, so that I manage the distribution of my copyrighted artwork.

    My copyright statement on each such image on deviantart clearly says that unauthorised copying and use is forbidden. Can you confirm that The Image Collector respects that no-download condition?

  3. Joseph Cox said on September 25, 2011 at 2:28 pm
    Reply

    Hi there,
    I’m the author of The Image Collector – thanks for giving the app a mention!

    This is just a quickie to let you know that individual images can be downloaded by left-clicking on them. The Items section of the Option (CTRL+O) window allows you to define what mouse buttons do what in regards to the items grid, so you can change them around if you don’t like the defaults.

    I’m making changes to the initial text banner that appears when the items grid is empty so the controls are more obvious.

    The plan is to add many more plugins to the default base installation along with various options to make them more useful.

  4. Marc said on September 23, 2011 at 3:47 am
    Reply

    It seems Martin that you missed to mention that there is a portable version.
    http://tic.bootblock.co.uk/download.php
    Though there’s always the dude whether it is actually portable (.net framework aside)…

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on September 23, 2011 at 9:33 am
      Reply

      Marc I noticed the portable option in the application options, but since it is a .NET app I decided not to mention it.

  5. odio said on September 22, 2011 at 10:19 pm
    Reply

    and about Google Images?

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on September 22, 2011 at 10:59 pm
      Reply

      Not supported, at least not in the free version.

  6. Genious said on September 22, 2011 at 9:48 pm
    Reply

    Yeah but who wants the non 18+ from 4chan?

    1. Hurd said on September 22, 2011 at 10:18 pm
      Reply

      4chan has non-18+-stuff?

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