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Patterns may be licensed only with permission.
Spec4ce Camouflage - Series 2 - Color Schemes Revealed (bottom half of page) (August 25, 2006, Vancouver, B.C.) HyperStealth Biotechnology Corp. discloses four countries camouflage programs are piggybacking (unofficially) on the Spec4ce (pronounced Spec-Force) pattern development program. One country is in Asia, one in Western Europe, one in South America and one in the Middle East.
Prior to designing camouflage, Guy Cramer, President/CEO of HyperStealth Biotechnology Corp. initial criticism of this field was that some of the government camouflage development programs were costing tax payers millions in R&D and years of development. He suspected both time and money were being wasted and went on to prove that, after being commissioned by King Abdullah II of Jordan with the development of their KA2 camouflage pattern in 2003 which only took a few months at a very inexpensive development cost. Jordan's KA2 pattern was recently ranked in the July 2006 issue of Combat and Survival as more effective than the digital CADPAT Canadian Disruptive Pattern (CADPAT has won NATO concealment competitions) and probably more effective than the U.S. Army "Universal Camouflage" (ACUPAT) in widespread use in neighboring Iraq. Once the Jordan pattern development was complete, Jordan tasked Cramer with material and uniform cut development, Cramer was taught the basics by the Military Office of His Majesty. After Jordan's uniform program was completed, HyperStealth began to branch out from just camouflage pattern design and embarked on their own uniform production. SpecAm and Spec4ce patterns are the first to use this all-in-one process for the commercial market. This process has also allowed countries without the resources to design or prototype new pixalated camouflage to piggyback on HyperStealth's programs providing these countries with cutting edge combat ready uniforms to evaluate for their military forces for just the small cost of a few uniforms. While the learning curve for HyperStealth has been steep for Series 1 production with numerous delays (some very unexpected), the company has decided use these lessons as a way to grow and mature in their production ability to continue with Series 2 and attempt to avoid the same delays and mistakes. Currently both SpecAm and Spec4ce have each been printed in 6 color schemes for the first production run (Series 1), uniform assembly is expected to begin within the next few weeks. Through pre-order sales Spec4ce Woodland and Tropical color schemes are sold out. A different set of color schemes is planned for the second production run (Series 2 - shown in the bottom half of this page), HyperStealth will be able to provide specific uniform colors to blend in with most regional requirements around the globe. These base color schemes should appeal to most applications but custom colors can easily be produced under license for specific country identification. Series 2 is not yet ready for Pre-order. Printing for Series 2 will not be started until after Series 1 is received and shipped to all Series 1 pre-order customers and financing is in place. We cannot estimate at this time when printing for Series 2 will commence. HyperStealth is also working with the help of Zombie Studios http://www.zombie.com/ to produce static simulations with the Spec4ce skins over CG Soldiers in actual environmental photos of the country to test colors before printing.
Zombie Studios specializes in first person military simulations and has worked on the successful "America's Army" game, recently developed by the U.S. Army. Zombie's Co-CEO, Maj. Mark Long, (U.S. Army, Ret.) formerly a senior engineer at General Dynamic's CASE laboratory, wanted the most realistic look and feel for a new game his company is working on. Mark turned to HyperStealth Biotechnology Corp. (www.hyperstealth.com) to provide a camouflage pattern for Special Forces of the future based upon ongoing developments in the U.S. Military - not Science Fiction (this mentioned game is not yet completed). The one drawback of developing camouflage for multiplayer games is that the pattern can't be so good that the other guy looking for you can't find their target. So the patterns are either scaled to make it easier to detect or extra gear over the uniform is layered in colors which contrast with the pattern and allow easier detection. The opposite is required for military evaluations where the soldier is provided maximum concealment by the pattern, so the gear is also concealed with the same pattern. This is a trend we are beginning to see in actual military gear. This Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) from Zombie allows for accurate shading and resolution. The next step which Zombie is guiding HyperStealth with is animated CGI so patterns can be tested on a computer with mobile targets. Going back to Dr. Timothy R. O'Neill's research used by the U.S. Marines in developing MARPAT (U.S. Marines Pattern), O'Neill/Cramer focused on the optimal macro pattern elements not used in MARPAT and the team concluded it was time to take the unused research on the macropattern symmetry axis disruption and combine it with the effective micropattern (Digital pixels) used in CADPAT (Canadian Disruptive Pattern) and MARPAT and then combine this with the fader pixels from SpecAm. The macropattern spatial frequency - (large blobs), is smaller than Jordan's digital KA2 developed by Cramer but larger than CADPAT and MARPAT both based on Dr. O'Neill's research work. The darkest color is strategically placed to create a boundary luminance gradient between the two dominant color layers which creates a better disruption element between the two similar hues. Colorblind people see similar color layers the same and the disruption effect is lost - the green hue of night vision has the same effect and the target shape is easier to detect, thus the boundary luminance gradient helps separate these colors even under colorblind conditions. Further refinements included reduced use of large dark regions in the fourth layer which the human eye picks up easier with movement and instead they dispersed this dark region within the third layer to produce a textured background look. The ability of the pattern colors to be reversed and cause the pattern to take on a different look was also considered and applied thus creating one pattern with the ability using color placement to be used in both positive areas (lots of cover) and negative regions (open with little cover). It was also decided that this pattern being able to be changed with color placement for both positive or negative areas could use the Global Satellite Determined Regional Color Program started with SpecAm. Actual printed colors may be different than those shown here. In 2005 the design team co-wrote the paper "Individual Soldier Camouflage: What the Sniper's Eye Tells the Sniper's Brain. Timothy R. O'Neill, US Army Defense Consultant, & Guy Cramer, Hyperstealth, Inc. and it was presented to APA Div 21 Annual Symposium on Applied Experimental Research George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, - the paper itself is still considered defense proprietary but public papers on digital camouflage and why it works have been provided by the team (located in the references). July 18, 2006 The Spec4ce (Series 1) production run printing is completed - we have photos June 22, 2007: Better late than never: Spec4ce Forest Production Prototype For more Camouflage news go to the HyperStealth® Home Page References: New Article October 9, 2005: Satellite Determined - Regional Specific SpecAm™ Camouflage http://www.hyperstealth.com/specam/science/index.html http://www.hyperstealth.com/digital-design/index.htm |
This page and information © Copyright 2006,Guy Cramer,Timothy R. O'Neill, All Rights Reserved.
CADPAT is a Trademark of the Canadian Government
MARPAT is a Trademark of the U.S. Marine Corps
Universal Camouflage is a Trademark of the U.S. Army
HyperStealth is a Registered Canadian Trademark of HyperStealth.
"Spec4ce" is a Trademark of HyperStealth® Biotechnology Corp.
"SpecAm" is a Trademark of HyperStealth® Biotechnology Corp.
"SOPAT" is a Trademark of Guy Cramer and Timothy R. O'Neill
"Special Operations Pattern" is a Trademark of Guy Cramer and Timothy R. O'Neill
