3d-sidewalk-camouflage

Camouflage And Blend With Environment

3D sidewalk camouflage is a stunning example of how easy it is to trick the human response based on what you ‘think’ you see. The images illustrated below are examples of how an artist can seemingly turn a flat street or sidewalk into a gaping abyss or nearly any other illusion that appears so real that you will step around it or avoid it altogether as your brain grapples with the confused conflict of what your eye is telling you versus what you know to be a flat surface.

3d-sidewalk-camouflage

There may come a time when survival may depend on your ability to remain unseen, or for certain things to go unnoticed. Perhaps your survival may not depend on it, but by being ‘out of sight – out of mind’ will minimize or eliminate any attention drawn to you or ‘it’. Blending in to the environment or background will help to achieve that.

There are many methods to achieve that goal, and will depend on what it is that you are trying to hide.

If it is ‘you’, then the question is are you trying to hide or are you trying to blend in with the rest. It’s sort of the same thing, but not really. Hiding is becoming invisible to the one who may be looking. Blending in may not be invisible, but simply appearing as ordinary and NOT out of the ordinary.

Becoming virtually invisible requires either being literally out of sight (putting something between you and the observer), or wearing some sort of camouflage that blends you into the background (tricking the eye of the observer).

The ‘Ghillie suit’ is one such method of camouflage and is a type of camouflage clothing designed to resemble foliage. Typically, it is a net or cloth garment covered in loose strips of burlap, cloth or twine, sometimes made to look like leaves and twigs, and optionally augmented with scraps of foliage from the area. Snipers and hunters may wear a ghillie suit to blend into their surroundings and conceal themselves from enemies or targets.

Red Rock Outdoor Gear Men’s Ghillie Suit, Woodland Camouflage

You could simply choose to wear one of the many varieties of camo clothing that’s widely available today. There are colors and patterns that are designed for different environments such as desert, urban, woodland, etc.

Mossy Oak Performance Camo Hunting Pants

Remember that while you may be wearing camo clothing, your face will stand out without some sort of face paint.

Camo Face Paint Sticks

A key (if not THE key) to remaining unseen, even if you are not camouflaged, is to remain still or to move slowly (exception being while moving within a crowd of others to blend in). The human eye/brain is extremely good at detecting movement in a normally still environment. Especially in low light conditions, if you simply remain still, you probably will remain unnoticed. This in combination with reasonable camo clothing, will virtually assure that you remain undetected (except for high-tech implements such as IR heat signature, etc.). Incidentally, wrapping yourself or covering your surrounding area in foil mylar (foil heat blanket) will block your heat signature – although will be an obvious visual giveaway during daylight.

Camouflage can be provided to objects by using camo netting material to cover them. The net could be of a similar color as the surroundings, and the mesh could be used to hold branches, leaves, twigs, or whatever else may be ‘normal’ for the environment.

Camouflage Netting

Using the concept ‘out of sight – out of mind’, perhaps you want to further camouflage your home from the street to reduce the likelihood of passerby crime or burglary. Ideas include placing objects between the home and the lines of sight from the street. Plant shrubs or trees. Build a natural looking berm into the environment. A fence. It may be difficult to impossible, but adding nearly ‘anything’ between you and the observer will dilute the direct view to the object you are trying to obscure. An effective method may be to paint your home a more natural color that blends in with the surrounding environment. Take a look at what the observer can see… do you have a bright front door that stands out from the rest? You get the idea… if you want to have a low profile, then everything that is seen by the observer must be ‘normal’, or one with the environment.

16 Comments

  1. I’ve hidden a huge amount of ‘stuff’ in plain sight on my property. One thing I did was to go to the fireworks factory and buy a used fireworks stand that is 8′ wide by 32′ long. Now you would think that would stand out like a sore thumb, but I painted it barn red and divided it into 4 rooms and made only one room into a chicken coop. The remaining 3 rooms I use to store things, and I have a seed starting and growing area in there. Anybody looking at it would think it was just an oversize chicken coop. I’ve run electricity and water out there by digging a trench and putting it all underground. There are no visuals to connect it to anything but chickens. I even thought about any light shining out of there at night. The seed room is arranged to block any light at all from escaping. And the chicken room has a brooder box that is lit 24/7 when I have chicks in there, so that looks ordinary.
    My house is very small, old and I haven’t kept up with painting so it looks pretty poor on the outside. It’s the same color as every house (3 within sight) around here. We do have new doors that kinda stick out raw looking, so I’m going to paint those to match the house, very nondescript.

  2. Another great one, Ken.

    And taking note of the thugsters activity here in cali, on how they avoid detection or make it difficult to track them:
    -they don’t have front license plates, just the back ones. the rustier, the harder it is to see the numbers (i thought not having a front one was illegal, but what do gangsters care?)
    -they have black black tinted windows–some so dark in the daylight you cannot see thru to the other side (again, i thought having more than like 50% tinted or something like that was illegal, but what do gangsters care?)

    -they LOVE silver-gray cars–because how do you describe a “silver” car? it could be gray, it could be light gray, it could be medium gray, it could be dark gray, or shades in between. AND in different light conditions, the car can look different!!! important for the getaway car.
    -they love dark green or dark blue cars–in low light, you cannot discern exactly what color (the getaway car) is.
    -they love black cars

    -drive a beat up car, no one notices, no one cares

    -drive a beat up car following a “scout” car, to hide the back license plate of the scout, so the beatup car (with expendable, unlicensed, possibly of illegal status driver) takes the heat if happen to be caught.

    -the “hunters” all look the same, shaved heads, so hard to discern by hair color, features, RACE.

  3. And in certain parts of Cali, wearing Red or Blue can get you killed–even kids.

    1. Aside from Pink & Orange & Yellow, other colors are “taken” in certain territories.

    2. I never had that problem. Being a white guy I really didn’t fit the gang banger profile. Maybe it has changed. Haven’t been there for 15 years.

      Be well.

  4. If you plant too many bushes and camoflauge your house, thieves can be undercover to take their sweet time breaking in, even through the front door. My house lacks paint, so no one would ever break in here or suspect there was anything of value, which there isn’t!

    I keep bumper stickers I really like taped inside cabinets. I can see and enjoy the rebellion.

    People who like to have a signature look are so visible and proud of it. I am afraid for them. My age and slight limp PLUS being female, automatically make me invisible. I am just an old lady…lol.

    My dirty white car has led people to variously describe it as beige or off-white when it is actually stark white. Kids at school recognized me because I had a missing center to my hubcap. Replacing that made me invisible to them once again.

    A foil blanket permanently covered with camo or ghillie could be used to avoid visual and heat detection.

  5. I.R. is blocked by just about by anything. The perfect thing would be clear plastic you can look out of with camo netting above it. You can see out but no heat signiture and from above the netting would blend it in with foilage. Also a window that is to be used to poke something out of possibly towards someone else could have strips of plastic that interlace infront of each other that would allow an object to pass through it.

    1. Glass makes a good IR block, but I wouldn’t say that just about anything blocks IR. It would be an interesting topic to research though.

  6. This is a topic I have done a little research on. From what I can find out, the space blankets are the best material for blocking IR. They’re cheap, online I’ve bought 10 packs for just under $10. One pack is plenty to completely cover inside a room that is 4′ x 4′ x 8′ high. These can also seal any light from escaping. This technique is used in grow rooms very effectively. I know by my own experience that this works, because our sheriff’s helicopter flies all over this area almost every night and they’ve never come knocking on my door.(which they would have if they could ‘see’ anything)

    1. Which side of the blanket do you put towards the walls and ceilings?

      1. The ones I use are the same on both sides. They are just very thin aluminized mylar. So it doesn’t matter which side is out.

        *After re-reading my last post, I’d like to clarify something. That post may give the impression that I am doing something illegal. I am NOT. I have all proper permits and papers, doctor’s prescription, and I follow ALL county and state rules and regulations. The only reason I expect a visit from my sheriff is so that he can verify that I am legal, because he doesn’t know until he sees what he needs to.*

  7. @Tammy I was curious because, I have an inner closet in my house that has one wall that can get hotter than the rest and I was thinking that this would be a good, easy way to keep it a little cooler, that’s all.

    1. This is becoming common practice in home insulation nowadays… installing a foil barrier.

      1. Yes, the rolls of insulation usually come with a foil layer attached. But, the rolls are installed between studs, and wood isn’t nearly as good at blocking the IR. Of course, you could cover the studs with foil too, prior to putting in drywall.
        I found a chart which listed common materials and how they are rated as to being IR ‘proof’, but I’ll have to hunt it down again. Mylar space blankets are at the top of that list, I remember that much. (I’m old and forgetful, and I did this research about 6 years ago)

  8. Removing all the reflective tapes and printed on patches on backpacks and shirts and shoes would be a good measure when SHTF – depends if its a environmental or unfriendly intrusion scenario… I’ve ensured that all my reflective bits and pieces on my backpack and clothing has been blacked out – for just in case at night people want to spot you etc.

    1. @Slazmo.

      I don’t buy packs, etc that have reflective tape on them. I use a flashlight to help those driving cars see where I am. One from Nebo in my case.

      Be well.

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