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.
"Have just spent a couple of weeks intensively exploring Insight and stacks to go yet. Congratulations! It keeps surprising me with the attention to possibilities, and forethought. In about 1993 I developed a system on paper to convert glaze formulae to and from analyses and Unity formulae, a completely circular system. It worked but very, very slow. My son is a long term sufferer of my rabbiting on about and therefore gaining understanding of ceramic technology. He is a BSc student and also programmer dealing in intricate database development interfacing with industry specific software. He is very impressed. Thank you for your contribution to this exciting ceramic world. "
"I have never experienced such great customer service as I have with you. I truly appreciate it. Your program has helped me understand glaze chemistry and when the results do not turn out as hoped, I can analyze it and modify it based on some knowledge. "
"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. "
"VERY IMPRESSIVE! "
"Upon opening my dearly beloved program I get this message: Insight notification (N1) .. It would appear that I can manipulate a newly entered glaze recipe, save it and print it out as usual....recalling it is the problem. Thanks for your concern...it's just one more reason why I am so impressed with Insight. "
"I have a PhD in chemistry (inorganic), and I spent many years taking data ... Let me say again that I am so very pleased with Insight! -- It gives me the ability to approach the glaze development with much better understanding. It is a favorite tool of in my arsenal!"