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.
"I owe you a thank you for creating such a good product. It really is impressive how much info you have available on materials and general clay and glaze topics. So, Thanks! "
"Presently, I am learning glaze chemistry and have been to the digitalfire web site many times to peruse the educational and technical materials. Although I have a background in molecular biology, most of the chemistry I used was biochemistry but the inorganic chemistry is returning quickly as my review continues daily. Moreover, there is no doubt that knowledge of ceramic chemistry will enhance understanding and controlling the different aspects of glazing. May the fire with be you."
"I have tested at least 1001 recipes and I can only wish it had been 1001 glorious nights. I have boxes full of bad tests. I am ashamed of the pots I have dressed in a ho-hum manner. It seems that after creating my beloved pots, I hand them over to 'death by glaze and extreme heat'...so here I am, the Internet Illiterate, 1001 glaze test wonder, and I am finally on the right track!""
"I really want to get the glaze stuff in my head. I am a chemist by profession. For almost 30 years I kept my clay as escape and did not focus on the science part of it. Now trying to integrate it all. "
"Glad to see you are still around and going strong. When we (Judy and I) started using this program in the 80s it was just a few steps above DOS commands. Now it is smooth and polished."
"You are truly an exceptional person to deal with the two universes of Windows and Mac, and the idiosyncrasies of each. I do not follow the logic of the Windows users except, maybe that that is the way they have always done it ... Just as I have always been an Apple user and that set my preferences ... my hat is off to you!!!"