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Alpha Zulu Camouflage > Technology

How are Alpha Zulu camouflage patterns different?

Alpha Zulu Camouflage patterns combine the techniques of blending, depth, and disruption to effectively conceal at close, medium, and long range. The patterns fade into the background by using proven algorithms and complex layering to create the perception of natural shapes, textures, and colors. Alpha Zulu is next generation camouflage. Best in concealment.

Traditionally, camouflage patterns have relied on either blending or disruption to conceal. Some newer patterns have also incorporated the appearance of depth.

Blending patterns rely on color and texture matching to disappear into their surroundings. This kind of camouflage works best at close range, but can merge into a single color at longer ranges and will stand out if the color doesn’t closely match the background.

Photo credit: Gregory “Slobirdr” Smith

Patterns with the appearance of depth work by using a dark color along one edge of the shapes, and by scattering dark shapes throughout the pattern, to simulate layering and shadows. This technique works well at medium range, but the effect is lost at close range and is often greatly reduced at long range.

Photo credit: Dr. Raju Kasambe

Camouflage patterns that are good at disruption use large areas with contrasting colors to break up outlines and hide true shape. These patterns work best at long range, but usually look unnatural at close range.

Photo credit: Save Valley Conservancy, Zimbabwe.
Used with permission.

Alpha Zulu next generation camouflage patterns combine all three camouflage techniques: they blend, have the appearance of depth, and also disrupt. This allows them to effectively conceal at close, medium, and long range – from five to 500 yards and beyond.

How do Alpha Zulu camouflage patterns work?

Multiple colors-within-colors of the hexagonal grid give the appearance of texture and shading. Visual perception fills in colors that aren’t really there, blending the pattern into its surroundings at close range – even if the colors aren’t a close match.

Strategic placement of dark edges and shapes is perceived as depth, even though all of the pattern elements are at the same distance from the viewer. At medium range, you can look right through the pattern – it appears to have a foreground, mid-ground, and background, instead of being flat.

The arrangement of shapes tricks the eye into connecting smaller shapes to make larger ones, causing disruption of outline and overall shape at long range.  Because these larger shapes are a visual trick, they can shift with changes in the environment – they can even appear different each time the pattern is viewed.

Why do Alpha Zulu patterns use hexagons?

The straight lines and smooth curves of traditional camouflage patterns stand out once a camouflaged object is spotted in the background. Patterns composed of square pixels are much harder to detect because they are more difficult to focus on, obscuring and delaying recognition of the camouflaged object’s shape. While this is effective at medium and long ranges, the straight lines of the square pixels look artificial at close range – making square-pixelated patterns less effective up close.

Alpha Zulu next generation camouflage patterns achieve the same effect as square-pixelated patterns, but look more natural at close range: they break up the straight lines and smooth curves of traditional camouflage shapes, but the hexagons look much more like dots than do square pixels. As a result, the focus disruption effect looks more like a fuzzy photograph instead of a pixelated one – a difference simulated in the image below:

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