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Image downloading from pay site (not porn)
Moony
Posts: 15,093 Forum Member
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I have subscribed to a professional clip art website because I generate a lot of powerpoint presentations.
The website is a little cumbersome to navigate and I would like to download some of the clipart en-mass to browse and catalogue offline.
I have tried various web crawler and bulk image download programs (Webripper, HTTTrack, BID etc) that are available on the web - but none of them will see the download links to the images - they only download the watermarked images displayed on the actual webpage (the real images aren't thumbnailed - they are linked via a text link).
The download link has the format (I have changed the website name and clipart filename for privacy reasons):
http://www.clipartwebsite.com/request.php?filename=clipartfile.png&cat=clipart&clipartid=1234&userid=12345
I can obviously click the link to each image and download it through the web browser - but it'll take ages. Are there any programs that can navigate the website emulating mouse clicks - or is there any other way of getting to these images automatically.
Can anyone suggest a solution?
Cheers
The website is a little cumbersome to navigate and I would like to download some of the clipart en-mass to browse and catalogue offline.
I have tried various web crawler and bulk image download programs (Webripper, HTTTrack, BID etc) that are available on the web - but none of them will see the download links to the images - they only download the watermarked images displayed on the actual webpage (the real images aren't thumbnailed - they are linked via a text link).
The download link has the format (I have changed the website name and clipart filename for privacy reasons):
http://www.clipartwebsite.com/request.php?filename=clipartfile.png&cat=clipart&clipartid=1234&userid=12345
I can obviously click the link to each image and download it through the web browser - but it'll take ages. Are there any programs that can navigate the website emulating mouse clicks - or is there any other way of getting to these images automatically.
Can anyone suggest a solution?
Cheers
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Comments
presumably your subscription allows you to download any/all of the clip art while the sub is active, so you want to maximise your usage. I may have done similar once when I was younger, wholly unconnected with the seventh word in the thread title.
I would think there would be limits/checks on how many files a user can request/download in a certain period, or concurrently, so any sort of automating would be difficult. That's if the clipart site is set up correctly, and given it won't give you direct links to the files, it sounds like it is.
Solutions (none of which are what you after I don't think):
- contact them and ask if they either have a bulk download option, or are willing to provide you with one. Probably will cost extra
- prioritise the clipart you actually want - e.g. if you work in banking you probably won't have that much use for polar bear clipart for example, and get clicking.
- follow the suggestions of the posters after me..
The site subscription allows unlimited downloads.
As you say - the links aren't direct. I have found a semi-successful workaround in the form of a google chrome extension that allows you to automatically open multiple links in one go. I still have to go to each clipart page - but downloading multiple files is a lot quicker. Still not ideal but better than nothing.