DGN Format - What Are .dgn Files and How Do I Open Them? | Bentley Systems

Format DGN

DGN - DGN (design) is the name of the CAD file formats supported by Bentley Systems, MicroStation, and Intergraph Interactive Graphics Design System (IGDS) CAD programs. DGN was developed as a native format for Bentley Systems' Integraph and Microstation software and is used in construction projects, including building, highway, bridge, process plant, shipbuilding, and construction projects. DGN is a competitor format to Autodesk's DWG.

Two versions of DGN files

• The Intergraph Standard File Formats (ISFF) specification, published in the late 1980s by Intergraph. This version is sometimes referred to as V7 DGN or Intergraph DGN.
• Bentley Systems created the specification in 2000 as an updated version of DGN that includes an extension of DGN capabilities, for example, an increased size of the supported project area, but having a different internal data structure than ISFF-based DGN. This version is correctly referred to as V8 DGN.

In 2003, the OpenDWG™ Alliance (now Open Design Alliance), a non-profit consortium that was formed to promote open industry formats for the exchange of CAD data, and Bentley Systems, Incorporated, the copyright holder of the DGN format, announced that ODA would support files with the DGN V8 extension in their libraries. Bentley thus increased its membership level, becoming the first supporting member of the Alliance.

The Open Design Alliance provides Teigh's ODA libraries (old name is DGNdirect) for .dgn files.

In 2008, Autodesk and Bentley agreed to exchange software libraries, including Autodesk RealDWG libraries, to improve the interplay and writeability of companies' DWG and DGN formats in mixed environments with greater fidelity. In addition, the two companies are committed to facilitating the interoperability of workflows between their AEC applications by supporting the mutual use of available application programming interfaces.

Bentley Systems' agreements with the Open Design Alliance and Autodesk were aimed at popularizing DGN files and thus avoiding the marginalization of this standard for storing CAD files.

DGN extension as a 3D CAD format that is used by leading design companies, contractors and operators around the world, a range of data storage options: CAD drawing and design, modelling 3D, visualization, component management and data exchange and sharing in various fields. Users of this format can perform everything they need without having to use other formats.

DGN files

Like any CAD file, DGN files can also be converted to several other popular CAD formats, such as DWG, DXF, DWS, DWT, DWF, or DXB, as well as popular image file formats such as BMP, JPEG, JPG, PNG, GIF, or TIFF, and other image file formats.

You can convert DGN files to 2D PDF and 3D PDF format.

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