Objective Soft cultural relics such as clothing are easy to decay, and most of them are fragmentary when unearthed. In order to provide better repair and protection, digital technology are used for non-contact virtual restoration in the early stage. From the perspective of ″costume-personage-environment″, through the dress collocation of inner and outer layers, dynamic display of the characters' clothing, and wearing scene construction of ancient clothes, a three-dimensional dynamic digital model is established to inject more background information, so as to effectively retrieve the singularity of two-dimensional display. This paper proposes a digital restoration method based on the combination of 2-D and 3-D methods to build the digital intelligence platform construction of clothing relics and the creative design for new Chinese style clothing. Method Three striped skirts in the museum collection of BIFT were taken as research objects. Firstly, the structural data of these skirts was inferred through image analysis, process inference and geometric scaling methods. Their structures were restored, and the structure of side panel was conceived and practised by the universal engineering drawing software AutoCAD. The pattern and texture were then restored with PhotoShop and AI. At last, the virtual fitting of inner and outer textile relics was carried out in CLO3D software, and the restoration effect was evaluated by dressing pressure analysis and questionnaire method. Results Through image analysis, process inference, geometric scaling methods, the structural measured data of the three striped skirts were obtained. Through comparing the inferred data with the measured data of the three striped skirts, the error of waist girth was found less than 2.5%, and the error of sweep girth less than 3.3%, demonstrating a high accuracy of the the inferred structural data. The waistline adjustment proportion based on the width difference between inside and outside horse-face was 10%. Based on the inferred data, their structural diagrams were obtained using the AutoCAD software. The structural design theory of A-shape skirt was introduced into the design of striped skirts' side panel, therefore, the conventional trapezoidal side panel was improved into a fan-shaped structure by arc fitting, which not only fulfilled its flat pattern geometry model, but also improved the balance of the skirt sweep. In the flat pattern of side panel, the relationship between the center angle and the warping angle of the waist line was summarized, that is, the center angle was twice that the up warping angle of the waistline. Not only does this make the stereoscopic effect of striped skirt materialize into a three-dimensional model of the circular truncated cone, but its spatial form is more intuitive and controllable. The structural design and practice for striped skirts in line with modern women's body shape and aesthetic value was conducted. In the wearing state of spreading out, the space between striped skirt and avatar was discussed, which proves that the structural creation is correct. In the virtual fitting experiment by CLO3D, the custom of wearing striped skirt together with the pants inside was complied and the three-dimensional dressing effects were obtained. Objective evaluation of appearance comparison and pressure analysis together with subjective evaluation of questionnaire survey indicated that the comprehensive evaluation of the recovery effect is good. Conclusion The result shows that the method can achieve precise virtual restoration of clothing cultural relics, and their digital models for static and dynamic displays are obtained. On one hand, it offers structural data reference for physical restoration, and on the other hand, it also provides strong technical support for the construction of virtual display platforms in digital intelligence museums. With the development of three-dimensional virtual technology, ancient clothing relics and culture will be communicated and promoted in more vivid forms. © 2024 China Textile Engineering Society. All rights reserved.
