Opinion: If you’ve never used Nvidia Ansel, you should

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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