setsneedtofeed

setsneedtofeed, 11 months ago (edited 11 months ago)

The Dual Tex in the original post is mentioned in your video, but only in the barest passing.

The video seems like a very lacking overview of UCP. Even in its short runtime contains a least a few common mistakes, like identifying UCP as renamed Urban Track, and it doesn’t really talk about why the chosen colors were chosen. The chosen colors were a mistake, but an informative video about why a mistake was decided on is more productive that’s just pointing out the obvious.

This link is much better. It both identifies the flaws, and it illuminates the (admittedly mistaken) thought process behind the color choices of UCP.

www.hyperstealth.com/camo-improvement/index.html

setsneedtofeed, 11 months ago (edited 11 months ago)

There is a link in the opening post with some background on Dual Tex.

It was an early attempt at having a pattern methodically designed to have macro and micro patterns, aka “dual textures” to help it work at closer and further ranges.

The squares were (on most iterations, some more primative tests had eyeballed patterns) derived from using a grid to create the pattern, with a grid being useful to help design a pattern with a good spread of colors.

Macro patterning is important to the military since observation and initial engagements usually occur in the multiple hundreds of meters, which is why US Woodland is derived from ERDL that has been greatly enlarged. If a pattern achieves good macro patterning, then micro patterning can help it work at closer ranges. Generally micro patterning is more useful in environments with lots of depth in them like jungles or woods, which is why patterns for those environments tend to be more complex than desert patterns.

Later digital patterns for uniforms that were created with computer assistance, like CADPAT used squares for the same reason of ease of design, and because it is easier to print patterns with distinct shapes rather than gradients. Multicam is an example of a pattern that is newer than CADPAT, which is using gradients.

setsneedtofeed, 11 months ago

The TLDR is the focus of the design was entirely on defeating NIR, at the expense of other considerations.

setsneedtofeed, 11 months ago (edited 11 months ago)

I think you’re a bit turned around. The only grid pattern camouflage used in Desert Storm in any appreciable amount was Desert-Night. (Which I’m not actually sure was designed with digital aid or not). Desert-Night camouflage was intended to defeat older generation night vision by blending into the grain of older night optics. Essentially to hide people in the static.

Dual Tex was an earlier experiment where the straight shapes were a result of the primitive ways of arranging digitally assisted patterns. It was intended primarily for Europe, but more than that was a proof of concept of the macro/micro patterning technique which did eventually become standard. In the 1970s the ERDL patterns could be considered micro only, and the following “M81” US Woodland being a macro only pattern. Dual Tex had the idea of inserting a micro inside a macro without disrupting the macro’s effectiveness.

The straight edges have proven not to be much of a detriment, as the vast majority of digital personal camo use squares are a base shape. (Digital camo strictly speaking doesn’t need square pixels but for practical reasons usually uses them). Follow up digital pixel camos did try to find a sweet spot for pixel size, as pixels that are large will make the camo less effective up close, but pixels too small can result in “blobbing” which makes the wearer distinct at a distance.

While the US hasn’t adopted digitally aided pattern designs on vehicles, a number of countries or units in them have. Vehicle camo follows the same concept as personal camo, although intended for a longer range.

setsneedtofeed, 11 months ago

They also turn APCs, like the M113 Gavin into simulated tanks.

setsneedtofeed, 11 months ago

:)

I added it just for you.

setsneedtofeed, 11 months ago

These vehicles play the part of the opposing forces in training exercises.

setsneedtofeed, 11 months ago

Not particularly, no. I can offer to show this Humvee rhino horn meant to trick thermal sensors.