![CADPAT digital camouflage pattern (Temperate Woodland variant)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/CADPAT_digital_camouflage_pattern_%28Temperate_Woodland_variant%29.jpg)
Multi-scale camouflage is a type of
military camouflage
Military camouflage is the use of camouflage by an armed force to protect personnel and equipment from observation by enemy forces. In practice, this means applying colour and materials to military equipment of all kinds, including vehicles, ...
combining patterns at two or more scales, often (though not necessarily) with a digital camouflage pattern created with computer assistance. The function is to provide
camouflage
Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the ...
over a range of distances, or equivalently over a
range of scales (scale-invariant camouflage), in the manner of
fractal
In mathematics, a fractal is a geometric shape containing detailed structure at arbitrarily small scales, usually having a fractal dimension strictly exceeding the topological dimension. Many fractals appear similar at various scales, as illu ...
s, so some approaches are called fractal camouflage. Not all multiscale patterns are
composed of rectangular pixels, even if they were designed using a computer. Further, not all pixellated patterns work at different scales, so being pixellated or digital does not of itself guarantee improved performance.
The first standardized pattern to be issued was the single-scale Italian ''
telo mimetico
M1929 Telo mimetico ( Italian: ''camouflage cloth'') was a military camouflage pattern used by the Italian Army for shelter-halves (''telo tenda'') and later for uniforms for much of the 20th century. Being first issued in 1929 and only fully dis ...
''. The root of the modern multi-scale camouflage patterns can be traced back to 1930s experiments in Europe for the
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
and
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
armies. This was followed by the Canadian development of the Canadian Disruptive Pattern (
CADPAT
Canadian Disruptive Pattern (CADPAT; french: links=no, dessin de camouflage canadien, DcamC) is the computer-generated digital camouflage pattern developed for use by the Canadian Armed Forces. Four operational variations of CADPAT have been use ...
), first issued in 2002, and then with US work which created the Marine pattern (
MARPAT
MARPAT (short for Marine pattern) is a multi-scale camouflage pattern in use with the United States Marine Corps, designed in 2001 and introduced from late 2002 to early 2005 with the Marine Corps Combat Utility Uniform (MCCUU), which replaced ...
), launched between 2002 and 2004.
Principle
Scale invariance
The scale of camouflage patterns is related to their function. Large structures need larger patterns than individual soldiers to disrupt their shape. At the same time, large patterns are more effective from afar, while small scale patterns work better up close. Traditional single scale patterns work well in their optimal range from the observer, but an observer at other distances will not see the pattern optimally. Nature itself is very often
fractal
In mathematics, a fractal is a geometric shape containing detailed structure at arbitrarily small scales, usually having a fractal dimension strictly exceeding the topological dimension. Many fractals appear similar at various scales, as illu ...
, where plants and rock formations exhibit similar
patterns
A pattern is a regularity in the world, in human-made design, or in abstract ideas. As such, the elements of a pattern repeat in a predictable manner. A geometric pattern is a kind of pattern formed of geometric shapes and typically repeated l ...
across several magnitudes of scale. The idea behind multi-scale patterns is both to mimic the
self-similar
__NOTOC__
In mathematics, a self-similar object is exactly or approximately similar to a part of itself (i.e., the whole has the same shape as one or more of the parts). Many objects in the real world, such as coastlines, are statistically se ...
ity of nature, and also to offer
scale invariant
In physics, mathematics and statistics, scale invariance is a feature of objects or laws that do not change if scales of length, energy, or other variables, are multiplied by a common factor, and thus represent a universality.
The technical term ...
or so-called fractal camouflage.
![Flounder camo md (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Flounder_camo_md_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Animals such as the
flounder
Flounders are a group of flatfish species. They are demersal fish, found at the bottom of oceans around the world; some species will also enter estuaries.
Taxonomy
The name "flounder" is used for several only distantly related species, thou ...
have the ability to
adapt their camouflage patterns to suit the background, and they do so extremely effectively,
[ selecting patterns that match the spatial scales of the current background.]
Design trade-offs
When a pattern is called digital, this most often means that it is visibly composed of computer-generated pixel
In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a raster image, or the smallest point in an all points addressable display device.
In most digital display devices, pixels are the smal ...
s. The term is sometimes also used of computer generated patterns like the non-pixellated MultiCam and the Italian fractal ''Vegetato'' pattern. Neither pixellation nor digitization contribute to the camouflaging effect. The pixellated style, however, simplifies design and eases printing on fabric, compared to traditional patterns. While digital patterns are becoming widespread, critics maintain that the pixellated look is a question of fashion rather than function.
The design process involves trading-off different factors, including colour, contrast and overall disruptive effect. A failure to consider all elements of pattern design tends to result in poor results. The US Army's Universal Camouflage Pattern
The Universal Camouflage Pattern (UCP) is a digital military camouflage pattern formerly used by the United States Army in their Army Combat Uniform. Technicians at Natick Soldier Systems Center attempted to devise a uniform pattern that wou ...
(UCP), for example, adopted after limited testing in 2003–4, performed poorly because of low pattern contrast ("isoluminance"—beyond very close range, the design looks like a field of solid light grey, failing to disrupt
Disrupt was an American crust punk band from Lynn, Massachusetts that was active from 1987 to 1993. The lineup was Jay Stiles and Pete Kamarinos (vocals), Chris Drake (guitar), Harry Haralabatos (drums), Tony Leone (bass). After recording one ...
an object's outlines) and arbitrary colour selection, neither of which could be saved by quantizing (digitizing) the pattern geometry. The design was replaced from 2015 with Operational Camouflage Pattern
Operational Camouflage Pattern (OCP), originally codenamed Scorpion W2, is a military camouflage pattern adopted in 2015 by the United States Army for use as the U.S. Army's main camouflage pattern on the Army Combat Uniform (ACU). This pattern ...
, a non-pixellated pattern.
History
Interwar development in Europe
The idea of patterned camouflage extends back to the interwar period
In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the World War I, First World War to the beginning of the World War II, Second World War. The in ...
in Europe. The first printed camouflage pattern was the 1929 Italian ''telo mimetico
M1929 Telo mimetico ( Italian: ''camouflage cloth'') was a military camouflage pattern used by the Italian Army for shelter-halves (''telo tenda'') and later for uniforms for much of the 20th century. Being first issued in 1929 and only fully dis ...
'', which used irregular areas of three colours at a single scale.
German WWII experiments
During the Second World War, Johann Georg Otto Schick
German World War II camouflage patterns formed a family of disruptively patterned military camouflage designs for clothing, used and in the main designed during the Second World War. The first pattern, ''Splittertarnmuster'' ("splinter camoufla ...
designed a series of patterns such as ''Platanenmuster
German World War II camouflage patterns formed a family of disruptively patterned military camouflage designs for clothing, used and in the main designed during the Second World War. The first pattern, '' Splittertarnmuster'' ("splinter camoufl ...
'' (plane tree pattern) and ''Erbsenmuster
The Erbsenmuster or pea pattern was one of a family of German World War II camouflage patterns, said to have been designed by Johann Georg Otto Schick, and first issued to the Waffen-SS in 1944. The pattern had five colours, pale brown, dark brown ...
'' (pea-dot pattern) for the Waffen-SS
The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...
, combining micro- and macro-patterns in one scheme.
The German Army
The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...
developed the idea further in the 1970s into Flecktarn
''Flecktarn'' (; "mottled camouflage"; also known as ''Flecktarnmuster'' or ''Fleckentarn'') is a family of 3-, 4-, 5- or 6-color disruptive camouflage patterns, the most common being the five-color pattern, consisting of dark green, light green ...
, which combines smaller shapes with dithering; this softens the edges of the large scale pattern, making the underlying objects harder to discern.
Soviet WWII experiments
Pixel-like shapes pre-date computer-aided design
Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve c ...
by many years, already being used in Soviet Union experiments with camouflage patterns, such as "TTsMKK") is short for "three-colour disguise camouflage suit" ("трёхцветный маскировочный камуфлированный костюм", ''tryokhtsvetniy maskirovochniy kamuflirovanniy kostyum''). developed in 1944 or 1945. The pattern uses areas of olive green, sand, and black running together in broken patches at a range of scales.
1976 research by Timothy O'Neill
In 1976, Timothy O'Neill created a pixellated pattern named "Dual-Tex". He called the digital approach "texture match". The initial work was done by hand on a retired M113 armoured personnel carrier
An armoured personnel carrier (APC) is a broad type of armoured military vehicle designed to transport personnel and equipment in combat zones. Since World War I, APCs have become a very common piece of military equipment around the world.
Acc ...
; O'Neill painted the pattern on with a 2-inch (5 centimetres) roller, forming squares of colour by hand. Field testing showed that the result was good compared to the U. S. Army's existing camouflage patterns
Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the b ...
, and O'Neill went on to become an instructor and camouflage researcher at West Point
The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...
military academy.
2000s fractal-like digital patterns
By 2000, development was underway to create pixellated camouflage patterns for battledress
A combat uniform, also called field uniform, battledress or military fatigues, is a casual type of uniform used by military, police, fire and other public uniformed services for everyday fieldwork and combat duty purposes, as opposed to dress ...
like the Canadian Forces
}
The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; french: Forces armées canadiennes, ''FAC'') are the unified military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air elements referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and Royal Canadian Air Force.
...
' CADPAT
Canadian Disruptive Pattern (CADPAT; french: links=no, dessin de camouflage canadien, DcamC) is the computer-generated digital camouflage pattern developed for use by the Canadian Armed Forces. Four operational variations of CADPAT have been use ...
, that was developed in 1997 which later was issued in 2002, and then the US Marines' MARPAT
MARPAT (short for Marine pattern) is a multi-scale camouflage pattern in use with the United States Marine Corps, designed in 2001 and introduced from late 2002 to early 2005 with the Marine Corps Combat Utility Uniform (MCCUU), which replaced ...
, rolled out between 2002 and 2004. The CADPAT and MARPAT patterns were somewhat self-similar
__NOTOC__
In mathematics, a self-similar object is exactly or approximately similar to a part of itself (i.e., the whole has the same shape as one or more of the parts). Many objects in the real world, such as coastlines, are statistically se ...
(in the manner of fractals and patterns in nature such as vegetation), is designed to work at two different scales; a genuinely fractal pattern would be statistically similar at all scales. A target camouflaged with MARPAT takes about 2.5 times longer to detect than older NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
camouflage which worked at only one scale, while recognition, which begins after detection, took 20 percent longer than with older camouflage.[O’Neill, T., Matthews, M., & Swiergosz, M. (2004). Marine Corps innovative camouflage. Midyear meeting of the American Psychological Association, Divisions 19 & 21. Supplementary data at http://www.hyperstealth.com/digital-design/index.htm]
Fractal-like patterns work because the human visual system efficiently discriminates images that have different fractal dimension
In mathematics, more specifically in fractal geometry, a fractal dimension is a ratio providing a statistical index of complexity comparing how detail in a pattern (strictly speaking, a fractal pattern) changes with the scale at which it is me ...
or other second-order statistics like Fourier spatial amplitude spectra; objects simply appear to pop out from the background.[ Timothy O'Neill helped the ]Marine Corps
Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...
to develop first a digital pattern for vehicles, then fabric for uniforms, which had two colour schemes, one designed for woodland, one for desert.
Notes
References
{{Camouflage
Camouflage
Military camouflage
Military technology
Camouflage patterns