Initial Graphics Exchange Specification is an American standard started by the American National Standards Institute
back to 1979. The Current version is IGES 5.3. The next version will be IGES 6.0.
The file will be made of lines of 80 characters long like a FORTRAN or COBOL file. The file will be divided in sections. Entities are classified by entity number like 102, 402 etc.. The standard has been extended to allow transfer of nurbs and restricted patches.
table of entity of IGES
the global section of an IGES file
HowToIGES
We mean here ASCII file format (files you can read with any text editor). Exchange means that there is not too much data lost in the transfer.
How to convert a CAD file
Translating tools and Services
Unisurf
VDA
STEP
the more up to date
Standards
used in the CADCAM field.
SET
French standard or aerospace and automotive industry
PDES
used in USA
IGES Site
IGES In-work Items
IGES Workshop-Tools
IGESWorks
is an IGES viewer. The site also contains useful information about this standard.
IGES at the NASA
Some tips about using IGES with various Vendors (As they say "IGES is not an exact science") .
IGES Test Page
reference some IGES Viewers and offers an online IGES test file.
The IGES 5.x Preservation Society (IPS)
This non-profit organization maintains an archive about IGES where various draft can be found like 1992-01-26 IGES 5 draft
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