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.
"I mostly work with crystalline glazes. All the European potters speak in terms of Seger formulas so I have to become proficient with the program if I am to communicate with them."
"I participated in a workshop with .. when he was talking about glazes and demonstrating his techniques, I steeled myself to ask him if he worries about the functionality of his glazes. I figured everyone would laugh at me for bringing up such a subject, but I felt like it should at least be said, given the amount of young student potters in the group if nothing else. As expected he said he didn't worry about that. High fired glazes shouldn't pose any problems, was what he said. "Why is that?", I asked, "Is it because they are fired to such high temperatures that you don't worry?" He said it was. I want you to know that this is all a big challenge for me. But I'm determined to give it a good shot .. this is all a big challenge for me. But I'm determined to give it a good shot."
"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 find insight and your digital fire data base information very helpful. I appreciate the time and effort you have put into your products. "
"I like INSIGHT, it has helped me a tremendous amount!"
"The program really is changing the way I think about glazes."