The PDF Manual.
Modified: November 21, 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.
"Today I got a look at the program on my work location computer. Looks like it will do what I need. Thanks for the help. Knowing support is there is a real plus. I do computer support at a chemical company. Even the big name software packages can have issues in some environments."
"I am studying Ceramics right now and are in the midst of Labs and glaze testing for our final exam. I have not had time to study the program completely but the little I did was certainly v. helpful in my assignment."
"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!!!"
"I have to share my absolute joy with you. I pulled out my tests from the kiln today and they were absolutely wonderful!!!! When people ask for the recipe, I'm going to tell them, "I'll do better than give you the recipe--I'll show you how you can create your own glazes that will be as wonderful these." Then I'm going to refer them to your web page. Thank you! Thank you! I am on cloud 9, where I doubt if I will sleep tonight due to all of the excitement!"
"I'm actually a trained chemist, I specialised in ceramic Chemistry before I moved over to bio and Forensic. I think Insight is a great tool for any ceramic chemist, it's great that we don't have to faff about developing our own spreadsheets!!! I used it all the time when I took my doctorate years ago. It's been a while.... so I really need to get to know the programme again. "
"I do appreciate everything that you do with Insight. I have used it exclusively for years now. I LIKE INSIGHT. IT LOOKS GREAT. THE RECIPE CALCULATION PORTION IS FABULOUS. Thank you for your hard work. I know that your knowledge of programs and their workings are far beyond what I can comprehend. I'm just a user. Thanks for being there...may you live long and prosper."