CGM Format
CGM is a vector output format for Visual Integrity products. It is a vector-based file format used for storage, exchange and publishing of technical graphics ranging from CAD drawings to geological plots. Many companies need it for their PDM (Product Data Management), SGML/XML documentation and IETM (Illustrated Electronic Technical Manual) publishing systems.
What is the CGM Format?
The Computer Graphics Metafile (CGM) file format is used to render graphics in a wide range of technical applications. It is output by many specialized programs in the aerospace, semiconductor manufacturing, automotive and telecommunications industries. CGM is most commonly used in these organizations for product operation, maintenance, repair and other technical manuals. It is also used in the petroleum industry for mapping, lithology cross-sections, seismic traces and well logs. The U.S. military uses CGM for simple redlining on top of raster (map) data. CGM is a format supported both in print and on-line (IETMS). CGM is typically used for technical illustrations in SGML/XML documentation systems, and now, more and more, for Web-based systems like IETMS (Illustrated Electronic Technical Manuals) and e-Catalogs. Outside of these specialized, technical industries, CGM has largely been superseded by formats such as SVG and DXF. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) defined WebCGM, a profile of CGM enjoying specialized use of on the Web.
CGM Has Many Flavors
Over the years, several different versions of CGM have been spawned to meet the needs of various industries. There are specific industry profiles (ATA, MIL, PIP) and four different levels as well as WebCGM. As a result of this diversification, interoperability is often a problem: the target application is unable to reliably interpret the particular flavor of CGM generated by the source application. Many content creation applications have started outputting Level 3 or 4 CGM. However, many applications on the receiving end have not yet implemented full support for these higher levels.
How Visual Integrity Can Help You with CGM?
Visual Integrity helps industry manufacturers, suppliers and software vendors turn graphical data into the CGM format. It does so for many source applications which do not offer CGM output, and also for applications which already do – but are incompatible with the end user’s target application. Input formats include PDF, PostScript, EPS, WMF and EPS.
CGM files generated are compliant with all levels and industry profiles. By default, our software produces the common denominator subset of CGM (we like to call it ‘vanilla CGM’) to ensure optimal interoperability with the viewing, authoring, and publishing environment downstream. This ‘vanilla CGM’ handles files typically produced and used in technical industries.
Notes on CGM Support
• Output supports choice of CGM Levels 1-2-3-4
• Compliant with ATA, MIL and PIP industry profiles
• Supports vector graphics, raster images and font-based text
• Supports both metric and abstract scaling
• Curves are retained in Level 3-4 compatible output
CGM Resources
Computer Graphics Metafile (.cgm) format for Technical Illustrations