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

"We mixed your 20 X 5 gloss transparent and several other glazes to test. Over half of our 14 glaze test pieces were terrific! And even the one's that were not were indeed learning opportunities. We will continue to test them in combinations, different temps, longer soak times at the top, etc. Thanks again for a great, informative site and a great encouragement and confidence builder! We look forward to glaze firings with more confidence and excitement!"

"Thanks for your interest and the follow up note. You have done a tremendous job with this software. I have enjoyed the tutorials that you have on your web site and marvel at what a teaching accomplishment your work represents. My hat is off to you!"

"Everything downloaded perfectly onto my Mac and the video lessons are really helping me understand the software. I've been using INSIGHT to swap out materials in glaze recipes with similar materials available in 'the shed'. Also, I am trying to move from ^10 gas to ^6 electric. I will be graduating soon so I am trying to prepare myself for a method of making that more cost effective. School starts tomorrow and I can't wait to test out some of my new ideas :)"

"I am a pottery teacher, and I operate my own school .. I have been impressed with your software for some time."

"Insight has been an excellent tool in helping to adjust glazes and understand glaze chemistry."

"Thank you so much. Your software is great!"


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