Trying to read CGM files - no luck yet

[ripmiata]

I upgraded to Irfanview 4.25 and then downloaded Plug-Ins version 4.25. (confirmed just now that I am running the same version of program and plug-ins)

I tried to open a CGM file (that opens fine with Larsen CGM viewer) and got "Decode Error! Out of system resources". Got same message with other CGMs.

I am running XP Pro on a 3GB machine with 2GB of memory so I am not sure how I could be out of system resources. But I have been wrong once before

Any help getting the CGM plug-in working would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Rip
(love Irfanview)

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

Just one of many problems caused by changes to the CAD Image plugin.

* 6. CADIMAGE.DLL - This PlugIn allows IrfanView to read CAD formats: DXF, DWG, HPGL, CGM, SVG.

Check "http://www.cadsofttools.com/download/irfanviewplugins.zip" for newest versions and licenses. (Shareware, Third party PlugIn)

1. Installation:
Copy CS_xxx.DLL or CADImage.DLL to Viewer\PlugIns\ directory.
For example C:\Program Files\IrfanView\PlugIns\CS_DWG.DLL

!!! Pay attention to IrfanView do not uses CS_xxx.DLL if
CADImage.DLL is in plugins directory. If you need to use CS_xxx.DLL
plugin please remove CADImage.DLL, if exists, from plugins folder.

2. Managing:
Setup CS_Manager.exe for registration dialog calling, changing image size
of drawings and color/black-white mode switching.

3. Registration:
3.1. Buy license from http://www.cadsofttools.com/en/documents/order.html page
3.2. Load CS_Manager
3.3. Press CS_xxx button to show registration dialog for CS_xxx.DLL plugin or
CADImage button to show registration dialog for CADImage.DLL plugin.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

My advice is to forget about using a bitmap viewer like IrfanView to view vector images. If you need to work with a deprecated format like CGM then get a copy of CorelDraw (almost any version will do) and use that to convert CGM to a more modern format such as PDF.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

An updated CADImage.dll plugin is available that fixes the problem in 4.25

Plugins Page

[ripmiata]

I Tried the new version of CADimage.dll and did get a new error.

Exception EAccessViolation in module SHELL32.dll at 00076EE8.
Access violation at address 7CA36EE8 in module 'SHELL32.dll'. Read of address 012764C8.

I updated my profile but I am using IV version 4.25 on an XP SP3 machine (HP Compaq dc5100 Pentium 4 CPU 3.00GHz with 2 GB of Ram)

The suggestion to get different software seems inappropriate on a Q&A forum. If the software does not work, then we will explore other options, but this is the first time I have found a function in Irfanview that did not work. We are very vanilla users but we have used the batch functions successfully for years and love it.

Is there something about our hardware/software configuration that could be making CADimage barf?

Thanks, Rip

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

The appropriate advice on any forum is advice that is unbiased, and that helps the user solve the problem. If every answer advised only to use IrfanView for every kind of task, it would not be unbiased.

The CAD Image Plugin sucks. Unless you pay to register it, all you will get is a heavily watermarked thumbnail image, which, being a bitmap, won't let you see any detail.

The registered plugin ($30) will presumably let you set the resolution to a much higher value, and will remove the watermark, but I still say the same. If you want to work with vector images, use a vector drawing program.

If you want to convert CGM files to bitmaps easily, maybe the plugin will do what you need, but read the installation advice in the readme.txt file before installing it.

!!! Pay attention to IrfanView do not uses CS_xxx.DLL if CADImage.DLL is in plugins directory. If you need to use CS_xxx.DLL plugin please remove CADImage.DLL, if exists, from plugins folder.

I would still say use CorelDraw (or similar), because you can then save in other vector formats as well as in bitmaps, and do some editing first if necessary.

I attach a couple of screenshots of CGM images in IrfanView 4.23 and 4.25 using the plugins.