Ansel | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Mon, 24 Jul 2017 13:09:13 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png Ansel | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 Nvidia’s new Game Ready driver prepares for five upcoming games and adds ShadowPlay Highlights https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/matthew-wilson/nvidias-new-game-ready-driver-prepares-for-five-upcoming-games-and-adds-shadowplay-highlights/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/matthew-wilson/nvidias-new-game-ready-driver-prepares-for-five-upcoming-games-and-adds-shadowplay-highlights/#comments Mon, 24 Jul 2017 13:00:01 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=341411 There is a new Nvidia Game Ready driver rolling out but this time around it contains a little more than optimisations. There is a new feature debuting for Nvidia ShadowPlay called Highlights, which will automatically capture ‘highlight' moments during gameplay in supported games. Nvidia has teamed up with Bosskey Productions to make Lawbreakers the first …

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There is a new Nvidia Game Ready driver rolling out but this time around it contains a little more than optimisations. There is a new feature debuting for Nvidia ShadowPlay called Highlights, which will automatically capture ‘highlight' moments during gameplay in supported games. Nvidia has teamed up with Bosskey Productions to make Lawbreakers the first game to support this new feature.

The latest Nvidia Game Ready driver is now rolling out and aims to provide the best day-one experience for Lawbreakers, Eve: Valkyrie's new Ultra graphics upgrade, Fortnite, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice and the official launch version of Ark: Survival Evolved, which leaves Early Access soon.

Aside from that, ShadowPlay Highlights will be included in drivers from this point onwards. If any of you have experience with the Xbox One, the Highlight system here is very similar. Whenever an achievement is unlocked, or when a specific in-game feat is achieved (like a kill streak or something), a video clip or screenshot will automatically be recorded and saved so that you can share that moment with the world.

Finally, Nvidia's Ansel screenshot tool will now be supported in Ark: Survival Evolved as well as in Dark and Light. If you need a refresher on what Ansel is and how to use it, you can check out our guide, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Will any of you be grabbing one of the game's on this list? What do you think of the new ShadowPlay Highlights feature? 

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Nvidia Ansel: A ‘how to’ guide to snapping some pretty sweet shots https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/dominic-moass/nvidia-ansel-a-how-to-guide-to-snapping-some-pretty-sweet-shots/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/dominic-moass/nvidia-ansel-a-how-to-guide-to-snapping-some-pretty-sweet-shots/#comments Wed, 17 May 2017 09:14:35 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=334514 Nvidia Ansel - a great tool for taking in-game screenshots. Here's our 'how to' guide to get you taking snaps in no time.

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If you managed to spot my previous opinion article, then you will know I am big fan of Nvidia's Ansel tool. It's a brilliant piece of tech that lets you take some of the best in-game screenshots around. However,  not everyone knows how to use it and some people don't even know it exists at all, so with this article we are diving in with a hands-on guide to Ansel and its many features.

Before we kick off, there are a few prerequisites to go through before you can start diving right into Ansel itself. The first is, most obviously, that you'll need a Nvidia card. More specifically, you'll need a GTX 600 series or better to use Ansel. If in doubt, check out the full list of supported graphics cards over HERE.

After that, you'll need to own a game that actively supports Ansel. It's not a feature you'll find in every game. That being said, back in February Nvidia announced a publicly-available Ansel SDK, so now any developer can incorporate Ansel into their game. So hopefully a lot more games will be supporting the tool in the future. You can see a list of currently supported games, HERE.

For this hands-on Ansel guide, we are going to be using Mass Effect: Andromeda to demonstrate. So, you're in the game, what next?

The first thing to do is press Alt+F2 to bring up the Ansel interface along the left-hand side of your screen.

It's broken down into a series of different tabs, as you can see above. The first tab is the ‘filter' option, and here you can choose between a few different filters, including B&W, sepia, half-tone and more. You can also choose the intensity of the filter, allowing for just a hint (or huge amounts) of your chosen filter.

Next, we come to the ‘adjustments' tab. This gives you control over three areas of your image: brightness, contrast and vibrance. Depending on the look you are going for, have a play with the settings and settle on something you're happy with.

After that, we come to the ‘FX' tab. Here, you can adjust the sketch, colour enhancer and vignette sliders. The last two are pretty self-explanatory, but sketch makes you image look progressively more grainy, like it has been ‘sketched' in.

Lastly, we have the the ‘camera and capture' tab. First up are the field of view and roll sliders, which adjust the scope of the shot and the horizontal orientation, respectively. After that, the capture type slide lets you change what type of screenshot you want – you can opt for just a regular, native-resolution screenshot, or you can go crazy with super-high resolution shots and even 360 degree panoramas. The last setting is the image resolution, which if paired with the super-resolution capture type, lets you take images up to a whopping 61440×34560. Be warned, though, that images that size will take up around 28GB of storage space.

So, those are the main settings you can control within the Ansel interface. It is very in-depth and gives a lot of control over each image. I should also mention that you can actually move the position of the camera using the WASD keys – you do not have to be stuck behind Ryder in every shot! The same applies for other Ansel supported games, you are free to move the camera around as you see fit.

So, that's that for the how to! Its quite simple really, but it can take quite a while fiddling with all the different settings to get the perfect shot. I've included some of my favourite screenshots from Ghost Recon: Wildlands which showcase some of the different effects and ‘looks' you can go for, but please do send it some of your favourites – we'd love to see them!

KitGuru says: We hope you've found this guide useful if you've never considered using Ansel before but want to give it a go. It's pretty easy to take any old screenshot but if you happen to be a budding photographer, or enjoy photo editing at all, then you'll likely find yourself spending a lot of time tweaking all of the options to get the perfect shot. 

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Opinion: If you’ve never used Nvidia Ansel, you should https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/dominic-moass/if-youve-never-used-nvidia-ansel-you-should/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/dominic-moass/if-youve-never-used-nvidia-ansel-you-should/#comments Wed, 12 Apr 2017 10:30:35 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=326676 I'll confess  – I have only just started using Ansel. Yep, Ansel being the technology from Nvidia that lets you take super high-resolution screenshots, or even 360-degree images, within supported games. I will be the first to admit I am well behind the curve here. In actual fact, when I was in San Francisco for the GTX …

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I'll confess  – I have only just started using Ansel. Yep, Ansel being the technology from Nvidia that lets you take super high-resolution screenshots, or even 360-degree images, within supported games.

I will be the first to admit I am well behind the curve here. In actual fact, when I was in San Francisco for the GTX 1080 Ti launch, Nvidia proudly boasted that there have been over 200,000 Ansel screenshots taken in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt alone. It was that fact which got me thinking along the following lines: ‘I play The Witcher 3… I've never used Ansel… it looks pretty cool… may as well give it a go.'

Up until now, I just had never really felt the need. I'd seen a few cool-looking Ansel shots, but it didn't really seem worth it to me – I'd rather play my game than faff around trying to take a screenshot of some animated mountain.

That line of thinking misses the point, though. That's because, previously, I didn't really appreciate games as an art form. When you view a game as art, you begin to see what makes Ansel is so great. It lets you capture beautiful moments – because games can be beautiful. Obviously, a sunrise in Skellige is not real life, but I don't think that takes anything away from the amazing worlds game developers can create (although that is pretty much what I used to think). I'm learning to see the beauty in games and Ansel ties-in with that perfectly.

So if you've never used Ansel previously – maybe you thought similarly to me – I would challenge you to find the beauty within the game you're playing and take a shot. It's brought out the photographer in me, to the extent where I can spend several minutes framing my shot before applying several post-processing effects or filters.

I've recently begun playing Ghost Recon: Wildlands, a vast and sprawling depiction of the Bolivian landscape, complete with deserts, jungles and open expanses of water.

Ansel lets me capture the game's best moments and keep them to appreciate again and again (and being quite honest, I do think some of my own shots are rather good!) Why not give it a try and send in some of your favourite shots?

KitGuru says: Once you spend some time with it, it is clear that Ansel is more than just a ‘screenshot' tool. Let us know what you guys think of Ansel, and feel free to send in your best Ansel photos. If you are unfamiliar with Ansel, then stay tuned for a guide coming soon. 

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Nvidia ‘Prepare for Battle’ promo now includes the GTX 1060 https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/matthew-wilson/nvidia-prepare-for-battle-promo-now-includes-the-gtx-1060/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/matthew-wilson/nvidia-prepare-for-battle-promo-now-includes-the-gtx-1060/#comments Wed, 29 Mar 2017 17:14:01 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=327848 Over the last couple of months, Nvidia and Ubisoft have been teaming up to run a ‘Prepare for Battle' promotion. This essentially meant that anyone buying a GTX 1080 or a GTX 1070 would be able to redeem a free copy of either For Honor or Ghost Recon Wildlands. While this promo was previously reserved …

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Over the last couple of months, Nvidia and Ubisoft have been teaming up to run a ‘Prepare for Battle' promotion. This essentially meant that anyone buying a GTX 1080 or a GTX 1070 would be able to redeem a free copy of either For Honor or Ghost Recon Wildlands. While this promo was previously reserved for high-end hardware, today, Nvidia has expanded it to include mid-range GPUs as well.

Going forward, those buying a GTX 1080Ti, GTX 1080, GTX 1070 or a GTX 1060 (3GB or 6GB) will be eligible for this deal. As Nvidia puts it, the GTX 1060 is the ‘ideal GPU' for both of Ubisoft's recent releases for those looking to play at 1080p/60 frames per second at high settings.

Both games included in this bundle also support Nvidia's ANSEL technology. This screenshot tool paves the way for some incredible in-game photography as users can downsample captures from insanely high resolutions, adjust different effects and move the camera to get the best angle for the shot.

Aside from Ghost Recon Wildlands and For Honor, Ansel is also supported in Mass Effect: Andromeda, The Witcher 3, The Witness, Paragon, War Thunder, Watch Dogs 2, Obduction, Dishonored 2 and Mirror's Edge Catalyst.

KitGuru Says: It's nice to see deals like this expanded to include mid-range GPUs. At its price point, the GTX 1060 does seem to make the most sense for 1080p gaming in particular. Are any of you planning on grabbing a new GPU soon? 

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GTX 1080 Ti launch: other announcements you might have missed https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/dominic-moass/gtx-1080-ti-launch-other-announcements-you-might-have-missed/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/dominic-moass/gtx-1080-ti-launch-other-announcements-you-might-have-missed/#respond Wed, 01 Mar 2017 15:00:01 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=323674 While the GTX 1080 Ti was of course the main announcement from Nvidia's event yesterday, we were also briefed on a few other announcements throughout the day that you might have missed. Here we give you the low-down on some of the highlight announcements stretching beyond the GTX 1080Ti. In-case you missed our initial coverage …

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While the GTX 1080 Ti was of course the main announcement from Nvidia's event yesterday, we were also briefed on a few other announcements throughout the day that you might have missed. Here we give you the low-down on some of the highlight announcements stretching beyond the GTX 1080Ti.

In-case you missed our initial coverage of the GTX 1080Ti launch, you can find all of the details on that over HERE. This article is all about the other key announcements you might have missed.

Let's start with the GTX 1080 – Jen-Hsun of Nvidia announced a $100 price-cut for the GTX 1080. This will certainly please those looking for a high-performance card but whose wallets can't quite stretch to meet the $699 1080 Ti price-tag. You can read our full review of the GTX 1080 over HERE.

Next up, this announcement concerns the GTX 1080 and GTX 1060 cards – Nvidia have announced that both these cards will be getting a new, overclocked SKU. Essentially, with the GTX 1080 Ti, Nvidia is using ‘next-gen', faster GDDR5X memory from Micron. However, they also want to make sure the GTX 1080 and 1060 benefit from the memory improvements, too. This means there will now be a 1080 model with 11Gbps GDDR5X memory (1Gbps faster than the original model), while there will also be a 1060 6GB SKU with 9Gbps GDDR5 memory, another 1Gbps increase over the original.

The next announcement will be good news for those who like to record their gameplay – Shadowplay is getting a new ‘highlights' feature. Essentially, where devs support it, Shadowplay will now be able to recognise key moments in a game – for example, a double or triple-kill. Shadowplay then automatically saves these key moments as ‘highlights' – which you can edit and upload to your favourite social media, all while staying in-game. This new feature will debut in LawBreakers, a 5v5 FPS from Boss Key Productions. For a quick example of this feature, check out the video above!

Lastly, I want to touch on Ansel – Nvidia's technology which allows you to capture beautiful in-game photos in high-detail. Nvidia announced that they are making Ansel available to all developers via a public SDK library – meaning developers can now implement the feature into their game without having to partner with Nvidia to do so. Given there have been 200,000 Ansel photos taken in The Witcher 3 alone, Ansel looks set to continue being a popular feature in many games to come.

KitGuru says: These are just a few key but smaller announcements that you might have missed from the GTX 1080 Ti launch last night. Let us know what you think in the comments!

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Nvidia’s Ansel tool is now available in The Witcher 3 https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/matthew-wilson/nvidias-ansel-tool-is-now-available-in-the-witcher-3/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/matthew-wilson/nvidias-ansel-tool-is-now-available-in-the-witcher-3/#comments Wed, 17 Aug 2016 18:08:01 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=303273 When Nvidia first debuted the Pascal architecture, one of the big new feature announcements was Ansel, an in-depth game camera tool that could take unique, professional looking screenshots of games. A whole suite of editing tools are also included, along with the ability to take super-high resolution and 360-degree images. We have already seen Ansel added …

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When Nvidia first debuted the Pascal architecture, one of the big new feature announcements was Ansel, an in-depth game camera tool that could take unique, professional looking screenshots of games. A whole suite of editing tools are also included, along with the ability to take super-high resolution and 360-degree images. We have already seen Ansel added to Mirror's Edge: Catalyst but now, you can also find it within The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt.

With Ansel, you can add filters, adjust the field of view and screen orientation or make changes to contrast, colour, vignette and more. You can take a standard screenshot, or you can take a 360-degree image, or even a super high-resolution snap, which starts off at 5K and just keeps going up. High-res images will run up the file size though, with the maximum sitting at 35GB.

Witcher 3 ansel

To use Ansel in The Witcher 3, you will need the latest Game Ready driver from Nvidia. From there you can open up The Witcher 3 (make sure version 1.24 is installed) and once in-game, you can press alt+F2 to open up the Ansel interface. Images will then save in your ‘videos' folder on the C Drive.

Ansel will work on GPUs dating back to the GTX 600 series, so if you are a couple of generations behind, you could still take some pretty amazing in-game screenshots.

KitGuru Says: The Witcher 3 is a very detail-rich game and Ansel really helps kick things up a notch with its super high-resolution capabilities, allowing you to capture shots up to 63 times higher than 1080p. Have any of you guys played around with Ansel already? What do you think of it?

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Nvidia launches new Game Ready driver with Ansel and VR fixes https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/drivers/matthew-wilson/nvidia-launches-new-game-ready-driver-with-ansel-and-vr-fixes/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/drivers/matthew-wilson/nvidia-launches-new-game-ready-driver-with-ansel-and-vr-fixes/#comments Thu, 14 Jul 2016 18:08:43 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=299464 Earlier this week, Nvidia addressed some of the issues that virtual reality gamers have been having recently. For starters, the DisplayPort on Pascal GPUs was found to be incompatible with the HTC Vive headset and on top of that, many users found their GeForce graphics cards not using their boost clocks at all. Fortunately, both …

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Earlier this week, Nvidia addressed some of the issues that virtual reality gamers have been having recently. For starters, the DisplayPort on Pascal GPUs was found to be incompatible with the HTC Vive headset and on top of that, many users found their GeForce graphics cards not using their boost clocks at all. Fortunately, both of these issues have been fixed in today's driver update, which also brings support for the Ansel game capture tool.

Ansel was one of the big features Nvidia announced alongside the GTX 1080. It is a Pascal exclusive feature that takes ultra high-resolution screenshots and lets users do some image editing to boot. Right now this tool is running in Mirror's Edge: Catalyst but support for The Witcher 3 is also coming.

nvidia-ansel-100671768-large

Aside from that, those who own a GTX 980Ti, GTX 1070 or a GTX 1080 can download Nvidia's VR Funhouse demo, which puts you in a virtual fairground filled with mini games.

So if you have a VR headset, this driver seems like an important update, bringing along some fixes, a new demo and some optimisations for other games including Everest VR, Obduction, Raw Data and The Assembly.

KitGuru Says: Ansel looks like a high-quality screenshot tool but Mirror's Edge Catalyst doesn't seem like the best launch title, mostly down to the lack of players. Aside from that though, the Funhouse VR demo seems quite fun. Have any of you had any driver issues recently? 

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