Using Virtual Imaging Technology to Restore Cultural Heritage in Situ Virtually

Abstract The restoration of incomplete cultural heritage is important for presenting the value of cultural heritage. Usually, the restoration methods mainly include physical restoration, digital restoration, digital projection restoration, and plane patterns restoration, which all have insurmountable shortcomings. This paper presents a virtual imaging technology based on a kind of visual illusion phenomenon to restore cultural heritage in situ virtually. We proposed a virtual imaging restoration device and examined the practicability of the virtual imaging technology in restoration by applying it in restoring an incomplete bronze mirror. The results showed that the virtual imaging restoration performances better than traditional restoration methods from the perspective of keeping authenticity, non-interference, reversibility and discernibility of the cultural heritage. The potential of this technology and its encouraging results may provide a better alternative to the restoration of certain kinds of incomplete cultural heritage and a useful tool to pretest the restoration programmes.