Comparison of camouflage pattern
When you get a collection of a certain size it is funny to compare the different camouflage patterns. Some are so very clearly copies of each other and you can specify different "families" of camouflage patterns. The German Flecktarn is a very good example of one such family, the digital patterns (CADPAT and both official MARPAT patterns) are another.
Flecktarn
The Flecktarn (often misspelled as Flectarn or Flecktar - the name means "spot camouflage") pattern is apparently developed by the German company Marquardt & Schulz (perhaps in cooperation with the French company Texunion). Both the French and German armies did around the same time (mid-/late-70ies) test a Flecktarn-pattern.
Quite interestingly the Danish was in fact the first to adopt this pattern (called first T/78 and later M/84 in Denmark) - despite the fact that the Danish pattern is based on the German pattern.
Comparisons of Danish M/84 and German Flecktarn
ERDL and Woodland
One of the most widespread camouflage patterns (if not the most widespread) is the woodland pattern. It was adopted by the US Army and other US services in 1981. It is itself an enlargement of the ERDL pattern (ERDL = US Army Engineer Research & Development Laboratory) which can trace its roots back to 1948). It was used from around 1967 during the Vietnam war - first in a "lime" version and later in a "brown" version.
The pattern were either adopted or copied by a large number of countries. The US Army is now working on a replacement, but we are certainly going to see the woodland pattern for a very long time!
Comparisons of US ERDL and Woodland
Comparisons of copies with ERDL and Woodland
Yugoslav M89 amoeba pattern
Both the Serbian and the Slovenian Armed forces use an amoeba pattern. At a glance they do not look identical, but if you take a closer look then parts of the Slovenian pattern can also be found in the M89 pattern.
Comparison of the Yugoslav M89 and the Slovenian amoeba pattern
Digital patterns
First the Canadian Armed Forces introduced their CADPAT - later the USMC introduced their MARPAT - and now other armies are following.