Want to bring DWG into your solution? Think beyond the DWG SDK.
The real decision is not whether you can open a DWG file. It is how much drawing functionality your team wants to build, test and maintain before that file becomes a useful part of your product.
ODA delivers deep DWG technology. Rasterex puts it to work.
ODA provides professional SDKs for accessing, viewing, creating and editing DWG and DGN data. Rasterex uses proven underlying technologies, including ODA, and adds the engineering-document capabilities needed to embed drawings in business workflows.
Choose lower-level technology when CAD development is part of your core business and you want to own the product layer above it. Choose Rasterex when your goal is to add useful drawing workflows to an ERP, DMS, CDE, asset-management, construction, PLM or other engineering system without turning DWG into a separate development programme.
Two valid starting points. Different amounts of product work.
| Decision point | ODA Drawings technology | Rasterex |
|---|---|---|
| Starting point | Deep technology for accessing, creating, editing and visualizing DWG and DGN data. | An embeddable canvas and SDK for putting technical drawings into an existing product workflow. |
| What your team owns | Your team designs and builds the application capabilities, workflow and long-term product layer. | Your team owns the host application and business workflow. Rasterex supplies the drawing engine and interaction primitives. |
| Workflow capabilities | Building blocks for teams with the CAD expertise and resources to create their own solution. | View, annotate, measure, compare, highlight, extract, control and export as composable capabilities. |
| Format direction | Choose ODA technologies according to the engineering formats and capabilities you need. | PDF, DWG, DGN, IFC, images, MS Office and 100+ formats through one integration. |
| Best fit | CAD technology is part of your core product and you want lower-level control. | Drawing workflows support your core product and you want to reach the market without building the engine around them. |
This is a comparison of integration approaches, not a claim that the products are interchangeable. ODA offers several technologies; exact scope depends on the product and licence selected.
The DWG SDK is only part of the integration.
You want people to navigate drawings and layers. Work with objects. Measure. Annotate. Compare revisions. Extract information. Connect DWG content to business data and workflows. Access to the file format is the foundation, not the completed workflow.
What looks like the quickest way to start can become the longest route to the result. Development resources become tied up in specialist work. Delivery takes longer. Your team also takes responsibility for technology and maintenance that may sit outside the value your product is meant to create.
The cost of a DWG SDK is not the cost of integrated DWG functionality.
The requirements that are easy to underestimate.
Useful DWG functionality is built through CAD knowledge, engineering resources, real-world testing and continued maintenance.
- Large and inconsistent drawings
- External references and fonts
- Scale, units and calibration
- Error handling and edge cases
- Application APIs and event handling
- Testing across real customer files
- Deployment, upgrades and maintenance
Decide where your team should create value.
If CAD technology itself is part of your core business, working directly with lower-level technology may make sense. It gives your team the responsibility and control to shape the complete product layer.
If you are adding DWG to an existing business or engineering system, the objective is usually different. You want engineering information inside the product people already use. Rasterex provides the canvas and capabilities for that active workspace, so your development can stay focused on the surrounding product and workflow.
CAD functionality is a core differentiator, and your team wants to design, build, test and maintain the drawing product layer itself.
Drawing workflows support your core product, and time to market, broad file coverage and long-term ownership matter more than building the engine yourself.
Engineering workflows rarely stop at DWG.
PDF is central to distribution, review, comments and approval. DWG provides deeper interaction with drawings, objects and geometry. IFC brings BIM objects, properties and relationships into many of the same workflows.
Separate format SDKs can mean separate APIs, development paths and maintenance. Rasterex brings PDF, DWG and BIM into one embedded canvas, while each format keeps the strengths that make it useful.
Different formats. Different strengths. Connected engineering workflows.
Ask the questions behind the licence comparison.
- 01How much do we want to develop and maintain ourselves?
- 02Do we have the CAD and engineering-document expertise?
- 03How quickly do we need to deliver useful drawing workflows?
- 04Where should our development resources create differentiation?
- 05What happens when PDF, DWG and BIM become part of the same workflow?
ODA delivers DWG. Rasterex puts it to work.