From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Image file format family
Computer Graphics Metafile
(
CGM
) is a
free
and
open
international standard
file format for 2D
vector graphics
,
raster graphics
, and
text
, and is defined by
ISO
/
IEC
8632
.
[2]
Overview
[
edit
]
All
graphical
elements can be specified in a textual
source file
that can be compiled into a
binary file
or one of two text representations. CGM provides a means of graphics data interchange for computer representation of 2D graphical information independent from any particular application, system, platform, or device.
As a
metafile
, i.e., a file containing information that describes or specifies another file, the CGM format has numerous elements to provide functions and to represent entities, so that a wide range of graphical information and geometric primitives can be accommodated. Rather than establish an explicit
graphics file format
, CGM contains the instructions and data for reconstructing graphical components to render an image using an object-oriented approach.
Although CGM is not widely supported for web pages and has been supplanted by other formats in the graphic arts, it is still prevalent in engineering, aviation, and other technical applications.
The initial CGM implementation was effectively a streamed representation of a sequence of
Graphical Kernel System
(GKS) primitive operations. It has been adopted to some extent in the areas of
technical illustration
and professional
design
, but has largely been superseded by formats such as
SVG
and
DXF
.
The
World Wide Web Consortium
has developed
WebCGM
, a profile of CGM intended for the use of CGM on the Web.
History
[
edit
]
- 1986 ? ANSI X3 122-1986 (
ANSI
X3 committee)
- 1987 ? ISO 8632-1987 (
ISO
)
- 1991 ? ANSI/ISO 8632-1987 (ANSI and ISO)
- 1992 ? ISO 8632:1992, a.k.a. CGM:1992 (ISO)
- 1999 ? ISO/IEC 8632:1999, 2nd Edition (ISO/IEC
JTC1/SC24
)
- December 17, 2001 ? WebCGM (
W3C
)
- January 30, 2007 ?
WebCGM 2.0
(W3C)
- March 1, 2010 ?
WebCGM 2.1
(W3C Recommendation)
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Arnold, D.B. and P.R. Bono,
CGM and CGI: Metafile and Interface Standards for Computer Graphics
, Springer-Verlag, New York, NY, 1988.
- Henderson, L.R., and Gebhardt,
CGM: SGML for Graphics
, The Gilbane Report, Fall 1994.
- Henderson, L.R., and A.M. Mumford,
The CGM Handbook
, Academic Press, San Diego, CA, 1993.
- Bono, P.R., J.L. Encarnacao, L.M. Encarnacao, and W.R. Herzner,
PC Graphics With GKS
, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1990.
- Vaughan Tay (2001)
Making It Work
, 5th ed
See also
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]
References
[
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]
External links
[
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]
General
[
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]
Standards
[
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]
Other
[
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]
ISO
standards
by standard number
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1?9999
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10000?19999
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20000?29999
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30000+
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