Conquer the Glaze Dragon With INSIGHT Glaze Chemistry Software
The PDF Manual.
Modified: November 20, 2021

Desktop Insight is now free!

Download it from the Files panel in your Insight-live.com account or from the home page at https://digitalfire.com (current downloads only include the program file, manual, starter recipe, materials - overrides data is built in).

Desktop Insight is legacy, we had to move on-line

We moved functionality to a private account at Insight-Live.com - because people now expect to get at their data from any device anywhere. And for our survival. Ceramic lab work is much bigger than glaze chemistry, it is a physical world where testing, observation, record-keeping are vital. Insight-Live is about maintaining that data. Its recipes share pictures, they have firing schedules, notes, development history, testing data, links, they belong to projects. And they accumulate into the thousands and are easy to find and compare.

Importing Desktop Insight recipes into your Insight-Live.com account

Desktop Insight, by default, opens and saves recipes to its INSIGHTDATA.DB recipe database file (that file is in your documents/insight folder, it can be uploaded and imported into Insight-live). If Desktop Insight does not find the INSIGHTDATA.DB file on startup, it imports, into its database, all the recipe files (e.g. RCP, RCX) it finds in your documents/insight/recipe folder (it does not erase the original files, but no longer uses them). From then on, when you choose File -> Open (not File -> Open File System) you open recipes from its database (using the Recipe Database Window). When you Save you save to the database. See page 94 of the manual for more information.

Why is Insight-Live so much different to use than Desktop Insight?

Because you have to be able to compare ten recipes side-by-side. For physics as well as chemistry. And people need to be able to find thousands on any device from anywhere.

Desktop Insight focusses solely on glaze chemistry

Insight FAQ

There is a direct relationship between the way ceramic glazes fire and their chemistry. Insight is a calculation tool anyone can use to learn and harness the power of glaze chemistry.

Without glaze chemistry you'll never really have control and you could be a slave to your suppliers or the trafficing in recipes that never work.

Overwhelmed by glaze chemistry? Try starting here.

What People Have Said

"The software is very good, but in China all of the raw materials are different to whats available in the USA and Canada ... But that doesn’t mean that I may not be interested in insight at some later stage as I was very impressed with the product. "

"I am sure this would probably not be an easy fix, but it is one that would be GREATLY appreciated. It would also be appreciated by the hundreds of potters I recommend Insight to every year... Overall, Insight has greatly increased my understanding of how to alter glazes. Before Insight, it felt like I was doing surgery with a pocket knife, now I have all the modern operating tools at my disposal. Thanks for making Insight available for us Luddites! "

"I am very pleased to read that you are actively working on the Linux versions of Insight, it is always wonderful when software is offered across Windows, Mac and Linux platforms."

"Between you and the guys that wrote "Mastering Cone 6 Glazes" I have been having great success with my pottery. After 20 years of making functional ware successfully it has been refreshing to be able to make my work even that much better. I use the liner glaze you developed and it is so consistent!"

"I was thinking when it was I first talked to you and bought the program... early 90s I think. I have used it a lot, and appreciate the work you have put into it. It has been very useful over the years. Thank You."

"My first attempt to go from glossy to matte worked! I was so happy and proud of myself. I will let you know how the second adjustment works as I am trying to see if the amounts of AL02 will affect the transparency of the matte."


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