Evan on Engineering Software

An abbreviation of the word "drawing?"

A proprietary file format used for storing spatial and other data?

I'd say it's a data file format used in Autodesk software and also by competitors such as IntelliCAD and Microstation.

I think it’s both the short form for “drawings” (from my architectural background) and a file format extension “.dwg”.

DWG and DRG are abbreviations for the word drawing are listed as such, and have been for long before I existed, in our Australian Draughting Standards; and should be left so!

.dwg was a fortuitous and opportunistic use of the same abbreviation to describe a digital file by CAD developers.

R.Paul Waddington - cadWest.

It's an abbreviation for the word drawing. Has been for years, long before I struck my first line against a triangle or T square and later that wonderful straight edge mounted to a drafting machine.

Now it applies to not only these, but the paper output from electronic files and the electronic files themselves including various CAD files, scanned drawing files and universal format (.pdf or similar) without regard to the file extension, they are all drawings or dwgs. There is even a an electronic drawing file format used by many vendors called .dwg.

In response for electronic drawings, I have supplied (to the satisfaction of the party making the request) a variety of differing file formats including .pdf, .tif, .jpg, .rtf, .dwg, .bmp to name a few. I have had no comments on using any of these file formats. They're all drawings or dwgs.

German native speaker, so please excuse language.

DWG is the drawing file format of AutoCAD, its verticals MDT, ADT(renamed now), and LT and whatnot. Beyond that, it is a database whose internals have been kept a secret throughout history. Even when coding apps for AutoCAD, you can use it only as library, as a black box if you so wish, but youre never shown the source code.

There is a reason for this.

DWG -- as any other proprietary file format -- is power and politics. One can use it by changing DWG every once in a while to keep different AutoCAD versions and users from working together, rising yearly revenue and make the shareholders happy. One can use it to keep the competitors out.

How important DWG is to Autodesk, you can see by its eternal court battles against ODA for ridiculous reasons (e,g, "Trusted DWG" tag). You can see it by trying to find a file viewer for 3dsmax (.MAX) files -- originally, now again, Autodesk. You won't. Youll have to install 3dsmax with license first.

You can see how it works by looking at DWGGateway, a free viewing, printing and converting program thrown in by competitor SolidWorks. Now you can convert files between R2.1 and 2008 back and forth, something Autodesk obviously never intended to be possible.

There are other examples, not Autodesk alone. Look at Dassault for example. If you - and you alone - own the secrets of the file format, you can dictate your segment pretty much.

Harald

Without any context I would go for the abbreviation for drawing.

If you say it is a computer file format, you would still have to specify what file format:

DWG as in AutoCAD proprietary format?
DWG as in ODA open format?
DWG as in Generic CADD files?
etc.

Is DWG just the extension or is it the name of the file format?

Evan,

It seems you have ran out of interesting things to say.... Regarding your "dwg" question, nobody cares!

It would be a shame if many years from now when you reflect on what you have done in your life time it will add up to being a "dwg" naming convention activist... I honestly think nobody more than yourself has been afffected by the Autodesk empire. Get a life.

To: "A person you already know".

I saw your comment just after its posting and was appalled.
I believe personal views of this nature belong and should remain in the mind of the owner of the opinion, to be spoken only, directly to, and or in person face to face; NEVER COWERING BEHIND A MASK.

Evan asked a question, for a reason, if "A person you already know" has nothing useful to say in response why say anything at all? Additionally if you have not the courage to use your name thereby accepting ownership of the comment then most definitely you should not have commented, it was an abuse of the facility provided!

R.Paul Waddington.

funny - I just gave a statement to a copyright lawyer about this, just the other week.. and I'll tell you what I told him.

DWG or dwg is an abbreviation of the word "drawing".. has been for many years - my copy of the British Standard for technical drawing (BS 308, now replaced with BS 8888).

The fact that someone, a group there of decided to name their digital file format for saving (among other things) drawing data on a personal computer makes no odds whatsoever..

DWG = drawing - nothing else to add..

PS: The fact that anyone (and I mean anyone) is trying to copyright or trademark the terms, is morally reprehensible.

I have been in the drafting industry for over 27 years and I completely agree with Mr. Al Dean's comment(s), posted on 11/19/07.

Back in the days of manual drafting, when ANSI standards were followed, vs. NCS, DWG ALWAYS equaled DRAWING. This is still true today, regardless if it's a file format or a paper tracing.

I've been given a .drg file which I can't import into Autocad or Revit. Can someone help me in identifying which program uses this extension?

Thanks.

thomas@co-arc.com