Centerville, TN — There’s a problem in many shoot/no-shoot scenarios and CQB training. Students’ minds are not learning effective target discrimination, largely due to a lack of appropriate training tools. Most training relies on repetitive paper targets. The same bad guys. The same good guys. The same hostages, poses, clothes, and weapons. Students learn to react to an image that is imprinted on their minds, instead of using their minds to think, analyze and identify. This is not effective target processing.
This is why T.Rex Arms has developed the Chameleon Variable Threat System. These fully randomized humanoid paper targets ensure that students will never see the same target twice. Effectively identifying threats based on visual criteria is a skill that every armed citizen needs to master, whether civilian, military, or law enforcement. This is the next generation of target identification training for Live-Fire and Simunition scenarios.
The Chameleon targets are generated using 3D models and a customized animation rig for realistic poses, objects, and textures, supporting an incredibly wide array of randomized target variables:
• Thousands of unique poses depicting specific body language, weapon manipulations, hostage takers, hostages, neutral poses, non-weapon actions, traps, and threats.
• Dozens of clothing styles with infinite color variations and insignia, and random glasses, hats, and mask combinations, as well as various law enforcement uniforms.
• Thousands of combinations of hair and beard styles, with infinite hair colors and lengths.
• Custom tattoo library, skin aging, and infinite body types and skin tones.
• Parametrically-driven facial features and facial expression system.
• A large library of realistically detailed long guns, handguns, melee weapons, tools, non-weapon items, body armor, bomb vests, etc.
• Randomized camera angles from the front, back, and side, adding further variations to the pose library.
For each category of target, we are rendering tens of thousands of unique images, making it impossible to memorize the targets in a shoot house. Every target is a completely different image of a unique person that will need to be analyzed every time. The variety of options available allow trainers to set up any scenario, and the highly detailed characteristics of targets allow for additional training opportunities such as graded after-action reports, suspect descriptions, weapon identification, and more.
On top of each unique target image we’ve placed a simple two-part scoring zone which is invisible at distance. These hitboxes are calculated in true 3D space to take actual vital organs and skeletal systems into account, and are occluded by the target’s own limbs and held objects. The final product is printed on standard 24” x 36” matte 20lb paper, with additional 3” and 5” utility targets for other drills, and corner target description text so trainers can easily find the targets they need for a given scenario.
Tubes of threat and non-threat targets can be ordered from www.trex-arms.com today, or the Chameleon Software can be used to generate large custom orders. Custom orders can be made up of any percentages of any target type, threat category, and camera angle.
Contact targets@trex-arms.com for more information about customized targets, and how to use them to combat training complacency.
So, someone made paper targets?
Weren’t we doing this decades ago using various pics of items that could be changed to recreate a myriad of threats and different persons? I know that I was training that way, and it wasn’t anything new back then.
Modern training programs like PRISM and others which are scenario driven with recoiling weapons, and fire back at the LE/MIL good guys are where the future (and even present) is.
Simmunition is a manpower intensive program when set up and done correctly, but it is as functional and combat realistic as we can get. Real force on force gets stress levels up higher than paper, and it does it every time.
We will always be using targets, meaning paper, rubber, sheet 3D plastic, and similar threat simulations, but until someone comes up with a system which beats out PRISM, marking target firearms or similar programs, we aren’t making real progress.
Regarding target discrimination, used decks of cards stapled onto target boards provide ID pretty cheap. Shooting aces, eights, or the sum of various numbers provides absolute discrimination.
We aren’t trying to figure out the first sighting of the ELAZ17 with discriminatory and target ID firearm training, those basics are pretty simple comparatively speaking. The proper use of tactics, communications and the actual firearm are where we find training options get more intricate.
This paper target series isn’t a bad thing at all, but neither are the other ways we already do this. If these paper targets are competitively priced with other existing and similar sized paper targets, I wish them well. If not, this will be a foot note (at best) as there are more effective targeting systems already in place.
Just some food for thought.
But did you do it in skinny jeans? I didn’t think so.
bwahaha, do a T-Rex version where hes so skinny its impossible to get hits on target combined with this speed lolololol
They came up with (admittedly) a really cool/funny company name, and hey had to make something.
You should consider staying in your lane when it comes to these types of things, esp regarding LE.
Who is your comment directed at?
I hope it was directed at us and not Stickman. That being said, Lucas spends a ton of time training LE teams, and I’m a professional VFX/animation TD, so this is literally the first T.Rex product that is actually inside our lane.
There is a pretty solid overview on youtube about them and what makes them “different”. Firstly, nothing is new under the sun, this is just another option for positive ID. I think where this system really “shines” is the true randomness of it and the fact that it’s human silhouette. There are other options out there for positive ID, cards as you mentioned, Refactor makes a pretty solid one, and there are human silhouettes but only so many options and its usually very clear who is a threat vs not.
I think this system is pretty unique in the fact that it brings multiple pieces together into a single system. Time will tell how successful the kid is with them but it seems to have all the parts there. Getting the cost under control will be the big thing for them.
Yeah, we’d really like to bring the price down, but it’s tough when literally every print is unique. It’s an expensive way to go compared to printing a million of the same target on a giant offset press in China. That being said, $3 is pretty cheap compared to getting a bunch of humans together to be shot with sims. One of the SWAT teams using these will set up “parties” of dozens of no-shoots, which is really tough to do with force-on-force, and all those no-shoot targets are reusable, which does help with the cost.
Marketing and business aren’t always a bad thing together with Training, but I’m sorry if I’m biased I’m prefer training from adults with some kind of professional training, expertise and experience. I need to rely in somebody to buy his stuff, and I don’t trust “that guy”.