







































 Humanities and Social Science Research; Vol. 8, No. 4; 2025 

ISSN 2576-3024   E-ISSN 2576-3032 

https://doi.org/10.30560/hssr.v8n4p192 

 192 Published by IDEAS SPREAD 

 

Key Technologies for the Digitization of Cultural Relics and Their 

Application in Digital Museums 

Ping Li1,2, Yanqun Liu1 & Kun Zhou2 

1 Shandong University, China 

2 Shandong Museum, China 

Correspondence: Ping Li, Shandong University, Shandong Museum, Jinan, Shandong, China. 

 

Received: August 14, 2025; Accepted: August 21, 2025; Published: August 22, 2025 

 

Abstract 

Cultural relics embody a nation's memory as well as the codes of civilization. As fragile and non-renewable items, 

they demand novel methods of protection. Digitalization technology is used on cultural heritage, particularly high 

precision 3D reconstruction of digitization and multilateral data fusion techniques, has opened up new paths to 

permanently preserving and revitalizing cultural heritage. This journal intends to systematically review the primary 

technologies of the digitization processes for cultural relics, evaluate their concrete application models and the key 

bottlenecks facing the construction of digital museums and then the feasible paths of implementation. The ultimate 

aim is to produce further cultural dissemination and educational credit for the cultural relic digital resources in 

contemporary society. 

Keywords: digitalization of cultural relics, digital museums, revitalization of cultural heritage 

1. Introduction 

Under the threatening dual hindrance of time erosion and spatial damages, a lot of valuable cultural relics are at 

risk of antiquating, and the contained culture, inherent artistic qualities are difficult to disseminate far and wide. 

Traditional preservation means have limitations, while technology has made rapid advances in digital dispositions 

and this has been a strong positive impetus in the world of cultural heritage. The digitization of cultural relics is 

more than a replacement for physical preservation, it is positioning to create selective, interactive and infinitely 

replicable digital twins. It is futurist analogy consisting of many complicated components, like data retrieval, 

processing, managing, and innovating; but is most essentially transformational allowing cultural relics to dig into 

the rampant hidden potential in closed acquisitions or glass displays. Digital twins can eventually be seen and 

studied in another unconventional realm of cultural inheritance. 

2. Core Technologies and Processes for Cultural Relic Digitization  

2.1 High-Precision 3D Data Acquisition Technology  

 High-precision 3D data acquisition is the first step in creating a digital model of cultural relics. Use of specialized 

equipment helps record the geometric forms and surface characteristics of relics with accuracy. Structured light 

scanners or laser scanning devices project specific light patterns or laser beams onto the relic, and sensors read the 

information about how the light is altered in terms of deformation of the pattern or reflection off of the relic. These 

variations are sensed by the equipment and documented and transformed into a collection of points in space to 

describe the surface contour of the relic. The operators are able to systematically adjust the location and angle of 

equipment to ensure that the light covers all details remitted from the target area's features involving complexity 

of the texture or interior structure of the relic. An array of high-resolution reference cameras records a multi-angled 

image set covering all sides of the relic simultaneously, ensuring true color and texture information. After the 

equipment completes the initial positioning, it automatically executes the scanning program, generating raw point 

cloud data containing millions of spatial points and a large number of corresponding images. When the scanned 

data is imported into the workstation, specialized software automatically aligns and fuses the point cloud and 

images to construct a 3D model that combines precise geometric shapes with realistic visual appearance, laying 

the foundation for subsequent work.[1] 

2.2 Texture Information Fidelity Processing  

Restoring realistic surface textures is a critical stage after 3D high precision construction is completed. Operators 

will use professional high-resolution digital cameras in a controlled lighting environment to capture thousands of 



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multiple overlapping photographs of cultural relic from various directional perspectives and rotational angles. The 

angle and distance from which every shot was made with the camera must be calculated exactly; the entire surface 

of the cultural relic must be covered. The equipment is equipped with a colour management module that monitors 

in real time changes in ambient light and automatically corrects colour shifts that occur due to ambient light shifts. 

During the shooting process, operators need to observe the surface gloss features of the cultural relics repeatedly 

and manually change the angle or intensity of the lighting source so that the details in the highlighted areas or S/ 

B characteristics are not lost, nor consistent textures become lost in shadows.  

When the image sequence is imported into the workstation, the dedicated mapping software automatically 

identifies the model area corresponding to each photo. The intelligent algorithm analyzes the overlapping parts of 

adjacent images, accurately integrates color differences, and eliminates stitching artifacts. Based on the geometric 

structure of the model, the software seamlessly maps the optimized images onto the three-dimensional surface, 

generating texture maps with accurate colors, clear details, and natural transitions. The final output digital model 

not only has precise morphology but also exhibits a surface texture, color, and subtle historical traces that are 

highly faithful to the original cultural relic state. 

2.3 Lightweight Model Construction  

Although high-precision 3D models are rich in detail, their massive data volume makes it difficult to run smoothly 

on ordinary devices. Engineers use professional modeling software to intelligently simplify the original model. 

The software algorithm accurately identifies and removes redundant triangular facets on the surface of the object 

that do not affect the visual contour, while retaining key feature structures. The high-resolution texture mapping 

on the model surface is re-optimized and processed. Compression tools convert large-sized images into small files 

suitable for network transmission, while applying color compression technology to maintain texture clarity and 

color accuracy.[2]  

During processing, it’s important to preview the display effects of the model on different devices multiple times 

and make real-time adjustments to the simplification level to make sure there are no broken surfaces or blobbed 

out details while loading on mobile devices and web pages. The final output lightweight model, which preserves 

the primary shape and the surface visual characteristics of the cultural relic, is greatly reduced in data volume and 

can be efficiently applied in online display platforms, mobile applications, and virtual reality scenes to fulfill the 

public's need for instant access to digital cultural relics anytime and anywhere. 

2.4 Multi-Modal Data Fusion Management 

Faced with diverse and heterogeneous data such as 3D point clouds generated by scanners, high-definition images 

captured by cameras, historical documents, and inspection reports,the technical team of archaeological institutions 

or institutions of cultural relics and museums must establish a logically rigorous database architecture to achieve 

unified management. Staff members assign unique digital identifiers to each artifact, and the database 

automatically aligns and binds the 3D model with the corresponding surface texture based on spatial coordinates. 

At the same time, it associates repair records, research literature, and other materials with specific structural layers 

of the model through keyword tagging. The built-in retrieval module of the system supports users to quickly locate 

the target artifact by date, material, or decorative pattern characteristics, and retrieve all associated 

multidimensional data with one click. This structured integration model enables fragmented information to form 

an organic knowledge network, providing a complete data chain support for subsequent research and display. 

3. Key Bottlenecks in Digital Museum Construction 

3.1 Insufficient Precision in Complex Cultural Relic Digitization 

When faced with the complex hollow forms of bronze vessels or the light cracks on ceramic vessels, existing 

scanning apparatus has great difficulty in fully detecting the geometric characteristics of hidden locations. This is 

primarily true when artifacts are comprised of deep holes or overlapping structures that result in blind areas, which 

laser beams are unable to access, resulting in gaps in the point cloud data. Without ability to point cloud values 

from additional angles through the operator's supplementary scanning, the surface characteristics of some of the 

special material reflections still caused distortion and distortion to scannot be avoided in the rag retrieval of 

collected data. The current technical developments represent a major challenge for high-precision reconstruction 

of the full shape of such complex artifacts.  

3.2 High Costs Hindering Widespread Adoption 

The procurement costs of high-end 3D scanners and professional-grade cameras often reach tens of thousands of 

dollars, making it difficult for grassroots museums to afford the core equipment renewal needs within their budgets. 

The technical team of archaeological institutions or institutions of cultural relics and museums require continuous 



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investment to maintain equipment calibration and software upgrades, and the daily operational and maintenance 

expenses for high-precision scanning consumables and dedicated storage servers further exacerbate financial 

pressure. Professional engineers need to customize acquisition plans based on the characteristics of different 

cultural relics, and the digitization process for a single cultural relic often takes several weeks of work, with labor 

costs accounting for a significant proportion of total expenditure. The storage of massive amounts of data and the 

rental costs of cloud computing resources continue to accumulate as the number of cultural relics grows. Limited 

institutional budgets force a large number of precious cultural relics to remain outside the digitization process for 

extended periods, urgently requiring the exploration of sustainable cost control solutions.  

3.3 Lack of Depth in Interactive Experiences 

Most of the interactive functions provided by digital museums only allow for basic operation on the model such 

as rotation and zooming, making it impossible for visitors to gain deeper insights into the internal structure, 

craftsmanship details, etc. Most of the commentary systems developed by technical teams pick a linear path 

through experience lacking the studying ability to dynamically generate personalized content addressing visitors' 

interest points. Current devices possess a single feedback mode for user behavior without multi-sense response 

mechanism, while basic touchscreen operations only stimulate fixed graphic descriptions without deeper learning 

potential- weakening the sense of immersion of historical situations. Usually, systems are unable to detect the 

cognitive level of the user, although it is quite common for systems to display a variation of standardized 

information of the same depth for users of different levels of knowledge, meaning both a professional researcher 

and a somewhat average individual could have a similar superficial reading. Aspects that point towards a hyper-

real feel in the virtual environment, rely on the recreation of a macro level of experience reflecting history as 

opposed to the contextualization, that is social importance, and even definition, of how culture artifacts are 'used,' 

is very limited in a digital museum context; this makes it difficult for the visitor to relate the object to its intrinsic 

functional and symbolic meaning in cultural context through interaction.[3] 

3.4 Fragmented Interpretation of Historical Information 

The 3D models of cultural relics, archaeological site images, and historical documents stored on digital platforms 

are scattered across independent database modules. When viewers look up a Shang or Zhou Dynasty bronze tripod, 

the interface only displays basic dimensions and excavation site information. The casting process analysis report 

and videos of ritual scene reconstructions from the same period need to be manually retrieved across systems. The 

association rules established by the technical team are limited to material classification and chronological labels. 

The evolution of the beast-face pattern on this bronze tripod cannot be automatically linked to the pattern lineage 

of similar artifacts unearthed from other tombs. When viewers try to understand the trade system of the Maritime 

Silk Road in the Tang Dynasty, the fragmented information provided by the platform includes scattered chemical 

testing data of ceramic fragments, port site distribution maps, and clothing characteristics of Hu merchants' 

figurines, lacking a dynamic narrative framework that connects these elements to present the trade routes, kiln 

production, and the fusion of exotic cultures. This fragmented information supply makes it difficult to fully present 

stories of cultural evolution, such as the dissemination path of engraving techniques on celadon porcelain from the 

Yaozhou Kiln in the Northern Song Dynasty and the import chain of cobalt materials for blue and white porcelain 

in the Yuan Dynasty. Viewers' cognition remains at the level of isolated cultural relics and cannot construct a 

comprehensive picture of cultural dissemination. 

4. Practical Pathways for Key Technologies to Empower Digital Museums 

4.1 Construction of Cultural Relic Digital Resource Repositories 

Based on a standard of consistency, the technical team of archaeological institutions or institutions of cultural 

relics and museums standardizes the way to processing the stored cultural relics. When the stored high precision 

3D models are created after scanning, the high precision data is kept with key features for further use and 

lightweight kick parameters are retained. The data administrator will use a color calibration tool to adjust the 

texture mapping that can produce similar colors in the same object based on different lighting conditions. For the 

digitalization outcome of a portioned ceramic piece fragmented design, the user has to annotate within the platform 

the original stitching relationship. The database framework is designed as a multi-tiered system, with the raw point 

clouds and high-resolution images located at the first tier; lightweight models are located at the second tier, where 

datasets can be rapidly invoked; and at the top tier, repair records, archaeological reports, and multimedia 

commentary resources are differentiated and associated. The platform developers create discrete knowledge nodes 

for each cultural relic, and the spatiotemporal coordinates tether all the mineral composition detection data of the 

bronze vessels, and all video of the bronze vessels casting process, to the 3D models of the bronze vessels. The 

data from the Ming Dynasty paintings and calligraphy makes visible the ways that the inscription and seal data are 



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cut from high-resolution partial images adjacent to their locations beside the picture. The system establishes 

permissions at numerous levels allowing researchers to view the original detection data, educators to invoke 

streamlined models fit for teaching, and the public to access basic models and guided authoring through the 

interface. The resource library, updated regularly, is in the process of onboarding cross-institutional digital assets, 

creating a living knowledge network of how artifacts evolve and their technoscientific genealogy.[4]  

4.2 Immersive Virtual Exhibition Hall Applications 

In many demonstrative practice case of digitalization of cultural relics in China,the technical team of 

archaeological institutions or institutions of cultural relics and museums has created a 3D scene of the architectural 

complex of the West Market in Chang'an during the Tang Dynasty, using archaeological research results. The 

models of the shop signs, and street props researched by historians have been made interactive objects in the virtual 

3D space. Participants can wear VR headsets and have the ability to walk on the stone pavement and interact with 

the ceramic figures of foreign merchants on each side. Hardware engineers installed an array of motion capture 

cameras in the physical exhibition hall, which allows participants to engage with the digital holographic projection 

of a bronze vessel fixed in the exhibit case by gesturing in the air. When the object is rotated, the surface of the 

projection identifies the casting seams with the pattern of Taotie (a mythical creature). The system developers 

created a layered anatomy feature for the Han Dynasty silk paintings where viewers can slide their fingers with 

manipulation to peel off one paint layer at a time to discover the line drawings underneath. A simultaneously 

played animation of the weaving process demonstrates the mechanism of how paint and silk threads are combined. 

The cloud server processes multi-user interaction data in real time. When visitors gather in front of the virtual 

Dunhuang grottoes, the system automatically triggers changes in the lighting and shadows of the murals from 

different perspectives. The exclamations collected by microphones are processed by algorithms and transformed 

into ambient sound effects echoing inside the grottoes. The mobile adaptation module compresses large scene data, 

allowing visitors to scan the QR code in the exhibition hall with their mobile phones to use AR function to overlay 

the King of War Ding on their own dining table to view the details of the inscriptions. Regularly updated themed 

virtual exhibitions break through the limitations of physical exhibitions, allowing visitors to enter the special 

exhibition space online at any time to participate in curator-led nighttime salon activities.  

4.3 Construction of Cultural Relic Knowledge Graphs 

Data engineers clean and integrate artifact description texts from archaeological reports and museum collection 

archives, converting professional terminology such as bronze casting techniques and ceramic glaze formulas into 

standardized entity labels for input into the graph system. Algorithms automatically identify the spatial correlation 

between the unearthed epitaph records of Tang Dynasty sea beast grape mirrors and the Silk Road route maps of 

the same period, creating multidimensional attribute nodes for each artifact that include time coordinates, 

geographical coordinates, and craft schools. Knowledge modelers configure rules based on the functional 

classification system of bronze ritual vessels, and the system automatically establishes semantic connections 

between the combinations of Shang and Zhou Dynasty bronze vessels and ritual vessels in sacrificial scenes. When 

a viewer diagrams a bronze gu, at that moment, the graph moves to other combinations of wine vessels and ritual 

positions in a simultaneous manner. To create a structure as software developers do, structured data interfaces are 

opened. And, for instance, after researchers upload reports from new kiln site exploration, the graph can directly 

auto-match the Song-era iron-bearing celadon shards with sources of a distinct kiln characteristic to update the 

spatiotemporal network of dynamics in a paths of artifact dissemination. The front-end designers take the 

relationships from the graph and interpret those into distinct visual dynamic context diagrams. Now as a viewer, 

you might find themselves in the graph and click on the Jingdezhen kiln node and see an interactive timeline of 

the cobalt-based blue and white porcelain import route from the Yuan dynasty, with artisan registration 

management system and patterns taking shapes that have transformed over time and space. Once passed through 

academic review, the public editing module allows enthusiasts to annotate special patterns onto a lacquerware 

piece, and knowledge from user-added folk usage records are connected to the knowledge network after data 

cleaning to become an ever-growing opportunity for civilizational cognition.[5]  

4.4 Audience Co-Creation Experience Design 

In recent years,the digital technical team of cultural relics in China has developed a digital tool for assembling 

cultural relic fragments. When visitors assemble fragments of Yuan Dynasty blue and white porcelain plates online, 

the system compares them in real-time with data from complete vessels in the museum collection. Each correctly 

matched set of decorative patterns automatically unlocks the story of the pattern's extraterritorial dissemination. 

The virtual curation module configured by the education specialist opens up some 3D models of Tang Dynasty 

pottery figurines. Visitors can drag the figurines to different living scenes to create their own music and dance 



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display schemes. The system records high-frequency combinations and automatically generates recommendations 

for popular theme exhibitions. Technical staff have embedded annotation functions in the digital mural interface. 

Visitors can circle and select the flying ribbons of the Dunhuang Flying Apsaras and add personal interpretations 

of dance poses to name them. Once the back-end has reviewed and approved annotation compliance, compliant 

annotations will be shown as public comments. The system architect built a user creation library. Visitors upload 

hand-drawn sketches of the Song Dynasty tea ware usage scenes, and the drawings are digitized and attached to 

models of tea cups stored by the museum to create a digital exhibition wall of living history. After opera enthusiasts 

matched vocal segments recorded from Kun Opera performances to 3D models of Ming Dynasty costumes, 

immersive historically-based short dramas were automatically generated that displayed auxiliary subtitles. This 

open platform regularly publishes design challenges for bronze ornamentations, and after screening, the recreation 

schemes of the Taotie pattern by visitors are shown as animated light effect sculptures on a holographic projector 

in the physical exhibition hall for a curated audience. The names of visitors who were selected as participants are 

permanently recorded in the digital exhibition contribution wall to provide a continuously encouraging co-creation 

ecosystem.  

5. Conclusion 

Digital technology for cultural relics, and the application of that technology for digital museums, are augmenting 

the way the general public engages with and understands cultural heritage. It is an issue that not only breaks 

through the spatial limitations resulting from the conservation and exhibited space as we have physical cultural 

relics, but also reconstructs and transforms static historical remains into culturally dynamic stories through digital 

pumping avenues where virtual exhibition halls can be immersive, knowledge graphs of structured knowledge, 

and co-creating cognitive experiences. There are still bottlenecks, such as acquisition high-precision, cost-control 

and deeply interactive engagement that need to be consistently worked on, but also the development of digital 

resource libraries and searching specific to new application models that are enhanced through technology, have 

given cultural relics a new life through doing this. Ultimately, as cultural relics continue to gain traction through 

the digitization of these momentums followed by technology, we will importantly see the depth of our technology 

innovation rise with humanistic interpretation, allowing public cognition deepened and a memory that transcends 

time and space is no longer image-utilizing a point of reference, and can be one way an history scholar would see 

it, a potential bridge linking past and future of human civilization. 

Acknowledgements 

This article is an phased achievement of the 2025 Shandong Provincial Humanities and Social Sciences Research 

Project “Theory and Pathway Research on Immersive display and experience in Museums under High-Quality 

Development of Digital Cultural Tourism”; an phased achievement of the 2023 Shandong Youth Cultural Heritage 

and Museology Talent Training Fund Project” Theoretical Research and Demonstrative Practice on the Protection 

and Utilization System of Shandong Movable Revolutionary Relics”. 

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