Table 5 Problems and solutions of scanning historical clothes—a case study of the dressing gown

Dressing gown

Large object

Due to the large surface area of the coat, the scan was performed on a display mannequin. Thus it was possible to obtain:

(i) no material interference with the display position of the garment,

(ii) minimising deep bends and pits in the material surface,

(iii) high cohesion of the outer surface of the garment at the level of about 0.2%, losses and defects were practically negligible,

(iv) only a slight decrease in the quality of texture acquisition inside the material deflection

Scanning the garment unfolded. This would eliminate sagging and texture inaccuracies. The effect obtained would not necessarily fully correspond to the original

However, this approach introduces many new problems, such as:

(i) permission from the museum management to unfold the robes,

(ii) having a top of the right size to spread the robe out,

(iii) difficulties in putting together the scans representing the front and back of the garment,

(iv) loss of depiction of garment arrangement over the figure,

(v) the need to use simulation techniques for applying material to a virtual form—increased labour intensity,

(vi) difficulties in selecting parameters describing the mechanical properties of a garment with a complex structure (fabric warp, sewn-on tapes, convex golden thread embroidery, etc.)