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You've set yourself a formidable task. There's a reason why CGM hasn't been
heard from a lot lately; it's a standard that isn't standard. One CGM won't
necessarily match anybody else's CGM. The standard is just too broad and too
often tinkered with. Theoretically it will do what you want, store both text
and bitmaps, just as WMF and EPS can do. But EPS has emerged to be an even
more stable standard than CGM, and for good reason. I'm not at all surprised
that you couldn't get a useful CGM to transfer from Corel, because, as I
said, the standard is decidedly non-standard. Corel is probably outputting
what it thinks is perfect CGM, while your input device is probably unable to
read it.
I have to wonder why your equipment will only take a CGM. I'd investigate a
bit further than just taking your admin's word for it...lots of times they
are too remote from the day-to-day stuff to be reliable sources. Sometimes
they know only what they dimly remember. At the risk of ticking him off, I'd
double-check, especially considering that a CGM is going to be a rough
customer, to put it mildly.
If you are unaccountably locked into CGM, just about any decent CAD app can
save a supposed CGM. So can (to my uncertain memory) Visio, DrafixCAD (cheap
and reasonably useful) and Designer. However, I'd recommend that you test,
test, and test again.
Tim Altom
Adobe Certified Expert, Acrobat
Simply Written, Inc.
317.899.5882 http://www.simplywritten.com
Creators of the Clustar Method for task-based documentation
>
>I would like to create a CGM file on the PC that I can move over to the
>UNIX to plot on a Versatec plotter. I am using the plotter to get a
>poster-sized print of a document that can be done in-house as opposed to
>sending it to an outside printer ($$$$).
>I've got the plotting down okay, but creating a cgm file on a PC is what I
>am having trouble with. Can anyone recommend a program in which I can
>create a CGM file that contains .tif files and text, sort of like
>PageMaker?
>
>I have been told that I can only plot a CGM file by my sys. admin., so I am
>limited in file types. I have tried to export a file in Corel as a CGM with
>no success.
>
>Someone suggested Micrografix Designer, but I'm not sure if it exports as a
>CGM.
>
>
