The PDF Manual.
Modified: November 20, 2021
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
"Thank you for your prompt responses, and for creating such a wonderful program. I am amazed at how much I have learned about glazes and chemicals through my short time using Insight. "
"I'm about to give a mini-course in glaze formulation, and feel it essential to include a session or two on glaze calculation, and being addicted to the program myself, I would like to use Insight. "
"It is about bloody time, the kids expect this sort of information to be on computers and I might get a bit of peace now and again."
"I bought an early copy of insight for my PC, then went on to have a stroke. It has taken me more than eight years to get back to pottery. Is there any way I might get an upgraded copy of the program? I have returned to the university ... I would be in a position to speak well about Insight, should there be any advanced students asking about calculating glazes. Thanks for the nice program. I've loved using it and need it again."
"I've got Insight, I'm doing it right. I'm boiling the water, and shuffling the ice. I'm telling my glazes, "behave and be nice!" Don't craze, don't crack, don't mark, don't make me go back and recalculate! Three minutes boiling, Three minutes ice. They're still acting real nice. Three minutes boiling, Three minutes ice, Wow, still acting nice. Third time boiling, Third time with ice. I did it, they still look nice. Get out the Dazor, look at them real close, Put them almost right up to my nose. I tested them, I did what I could. I tried to make them craze, but they never would. I tested my glazes, I did it just right, I tested for cracks, crazes and marks. I did it all with Insight!!"
"I have been using Insight for years and am very happy with it for the knowledge it gives me, it will still take me years to reap its full potential. Thanks for all you have done for ceramics. "