Fieldcraft Figuring out my Damn Camo Contrast

[Oddball Six]

So I have been working on getting all of the stuff together to apply a custom camo scheme to my rifle for the grasslands of colorado.

I really like the Extreme Digital pattern from Bulldog Arms.
http://www.stevensonenterprise.com/bulld...p;products_id=6

The challenge then is choosing exactly which colors I want to use in the scheme. Using the duracoat colors, I came up with the following as a 3D render.

Aside from the fact that I am not a good 3D artist, and the model I use doesn't exactly represent the rifle that I own, what you are seeing is my rough approximation (using actual photos) of the area I shoot in.

My two concerns are:
1) Picking up the green without overpowering the relatively soft contrast in the rest of the environment such that I actually hurt the environment blending.

2) I think my two primary colors are close enough that I am not actually doing much for breaking up the outline of the firearm. The base coat is DuraCoat Coyote Tan and what you are seeing modeled here is Desert Beige next to it. The contrast just isnt there at all.

I was thinking go with woodland tan or similar instead as the second base color but then i need to figure out what to do about other colors in the pattern to rebalance the whole thing.

 

[Spazz.]

Re: Figuring out my Damn Camo Contrast

I think the Deep Gray Green would be a good second base coat to help break up the outline with Coyote Brown, then balance it with Desert Mirage Tan and something like Foliage Green or even Black. That's a complete amateur opinion though.
Coyote, Gray Green, Tan, Foliage

 

[OFIS]

Re: Figuring out my Damn Camo Contrast

Don't forget that high contrast and low contrast work hand in hand to make successful silhouette breakup.

Just ask someone in multicam, or a cheeta...

 

[Oddball Six]

Re: Figuring out my Damn Camo Contrast

Alright, so using the colors indicated above, here is what that looks like:

Definitely closer. Should I add a pattern on top as well, reduce the size of the little bits, maybe?

Tweak the colors a little?

 

[_Shay_]

Re: Figuring out my Damn Camo Contrast

Use a little darker grey, quite dark, with a lighter color around the darker spots, kinda like a cheetah.

 

[OFIS]

Re: Figuring out my Damn Camo Contrast

I'm a sucker for an excuse to photoshop...



taking into consideration you were keeping the barrel/action a solid color.

 

[Oddball Six]

Re: Figuring out my Damn Camo Contrast

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: OFIS</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I'm a sucker for an excuse to photoshop...



taking into consideration you were keeping the barrel/action a solid color. </div></div>

Thanks, that looks more like a flectar type pattern.

Which colors were you using here?

And -- the barrel and so forth doesn't have to stay solid. In fact its likely better that it doesnt. I just did the original that way to make life easier for me at the time I first created the rifle model.

 

[OFIS]

Re: Figuring out my Damn Camo Contrast

Believe it or not, just good old fashioned black and white. Soft edges lend themselves to blend with anything.

 

[TOP PREDATOR]

Re: Figuring out my Damn Camo Contrast

other suggestions:

brown or green:

works for snakes:

other:

i always like to start of with coyote/tan/khaki whatever you want to call it. i figure dirt and rocks are that color, and all the other stuff is put "on top"

if grassland is mostly your deal, then verticalish lines are the way to go, "going with the flow."

 

[TLong]

Re: Figuring out my Damn Camo Contrast

I'm not good with colors, but based on your 3d rendering, the Duracoat ABU camopak is pretty close I think.
Air Force ABU

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Re: Figuring out my Damn Camo Contrast

One of the thought exercises I have spent a lot of time on is an effort to reduce camoflage to its basic minimums.

In an earlier lifetime, I did a lot of scale model building. This involved airbrushing and self mixed colors. The major offshoot of all this was that I would start with shades of gray, and then tint them to correspond with the predominant terrain of the intended region.

From this, I evolved a sort of credo for camo.

I would start with a neutral gray undercoat; shading from lower to upper with darker upper, and lighter lower.

Because hides are seldom out in the open, the main undercoat is shifted to a lighter value to compensate for limited lighting in the areas of the field where hides are typically established.

Then comes the breakup pattern, generally lighter and darker shades of gray than the basecoat they overlay. Small patterns tend to disappear with distance, so I left them out. The MKI eyeball, in topnotch condition, can resolve to 1MOA, so anything smaller than an inch is essentially faded into the backround at 100yd, etc. Sharp edges or soft edges, at distance they tend not to matter, and should be a matter of ease and personal preferences. I tend to apply my blotches with a dauber, using a method similar to drybrushing.

Now comes the tint coat, generally something strippable without removing what's underneath. I prefer to use a flat acrylic floor polish with reddish brown or leafy green tint added. Use a tint which is water soluble and does not leave a permanent stain. I use fingerpaints. Easy does it with the pigment, we're only trying to to put a minor color bias over the main gray camo pattern.

The floor finish topcoat should wash off with an ammonia-based cleaner, leaving the primary gray pattern underneath undisturbed.

Greg

 

[krink85]

Re: Figuring out my Damn Camo Contrast

Greg if you had any examples of your work I would love to see it. I can kinda understand what you are describing but I am unsure exactly what it would look like.

Thanks

 

[Oddball Six]

Re: Figuring out my Damn Camo Contrast

Some other camo attempts applying what others have indicated.

Still not really seeing something that says "this is the one".

Some I like more than others. Trying to figure out how some of these look in flectarn. I really like that pattern both aesthetically and functionally.

AR Predator Hunter did a rifle that is something I would love to be able to try on the model here.

Based on our discussions and such here, I am thinking this might be a really good pattern for my area.

 

[savage110]

Re: Figuring out my Damn Camo Contrast

Base coat of duracoat or cerakote in Tan or "coyote" then krylon it to your surroundings using veg from your surroundings as stencils...

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Re: Figuring out my Damn Camo Contrast

No, because I no longer paint my rifles. I got completely away from the military inspired camo approach.

These days, if I camo a rifle for hunting, I use the Remington Vinyl Camo hunter's tape I can buy in the sporting goods department at WallyWorld. It's simplest, and most easily removeable.

While I post here at SH, I am in no way a Sniper, and I'm not gonna be a poser intimating I might be one.

Greg

 

[Spazz.]

Re: Figuring out my Damn Camo Contrast

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Oddball-Six</div><div class="ubbcode-body">

I really like that pattern both aesthetically and functionally.

AR Predator Hunter did a rifle that is something I would love to be able to try on the model here.

Based on our discussions and such here, I am thinking this might be a really good pattern for my area. </div></div>

If you take that mock-up and sub in something like Deep Gray for that light grey and CADPAT Brown for that Dark Earth or whatever a you have your break-up, I would consider that a winner. Also, you could take those colors and try to do something like ARPredatorHunter's design, and I think that may be successful.

 

[ARP]

Re: Figuring out my Damn Camo Contrast

Or you could just send the rifle to me and I will make it all happen with ARPAFLAGE_Grassland hahahaha

 

[Spazz.]

Re: Figuring out my Damn Camo Contrast

^ Yeah, that.

 

[TOP PREDATOR]

Re: Figuring out my Damn Camo Contrast

in the end, your clothes wront match any way. pick something that offers the best break up in multiple scenes in your area and have done with it. ithink the top one o yours is the best you've come up with as the semi vertical lines adn the amount of bold contrast will give you that break up in more areas. still wront match the clothes and the rest of your gear, so don't sweat it.
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Oddball-Six</div><div class="ubbcode-body">

Still not really seeing something that says "this is the one".

Based on our discussions and such here, I am thinking this might be a really good pattern for my area.</div></div>

ap predator's looks to be as if it woould blend in anywhere.

 

[jaguar shield]

IMHO try to match the camo you wear with the camo on your weapon. and stay down wind. any one try kryptek looks good to me.

 

[Shoottothrill]

I have never painted or camouflaged a rifle in my life, but what I am seeing is grass that grows vertically and I think you need to use that grass as a stencil and have vertical lines on your rifle. I think the colors your using are fine it just need to be patterned more like your environment.