Progressive enhancement and restoration for mural images under low-light and defected conditions based on multi-receptive field strategy

Progressive enhancement and restoration for mural images under low-light and defected conditions based on multi-receptive field strategy | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Progressive enhancement and restoration for mural images under low-light and defected conditions based on multi-receptive field strategy Xiameng Wei, Binbin Fan, Ying Wang, Yanxiang Feng, Laiyi Fu This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4753224/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 06 Mar, 2025 Read the published version in npj Heritage Science → Version 1 posted 12 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Ancient murals are valuable cultural heritage with great archaeological value. They provide insights into ancient religions, ceremonies, folklore, among other things through their content. However, due to long-term oxidation and inadequate protection, ancient murals have suffered continuous damage, including peeling and mold etc. Additionally, since ancient murals were typically painted indoors, the light intensity in images captured by digital devices is often low. The poor visibility hampers the further restoration of damaged areas. To address the escalating damage to ancient murals and facilitate batch restoration at archaeological sites, we propose a two-stage restoration model with automatic defect area detection strategy which called MER(Mural Enhancement and Restoration net) for ancient murals that are damaged and have been captured in low light. Our two-stage model not only enhances the visual quality of restored images but also achieves commendable results in relevant metric evaluations compared with other competitors. Furthermore, we have launched a website dedicated to the restoration of ancient mural paintings, utilizing the proposed model. Code is available at https://gitee.com/bbfan2024/MER.git . Ancient murals restoration Image inpainting Low-light enhancement Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 06 Mar, 2025 Read the published version in npj Heritage Science → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 26 Aug, 2024 Reviews received at journal 21 Aug, 2024 Reviews received at journal 10 Aug, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 28 Jul, 2024 Reviews received at journal 26 Jul, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 26 Jul, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 26 Jul, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 26 Jul, 2024 Reviewers invited by journal 25 Jul, 2024 Editor assigned by journal 22 Jul, 2024 Submission checks completed at journal 22 Jul, 2024 First submitted to journal 16 Jul, 2024 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4753224","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":338663253,"identity":"7c391f95-b704-4149-9cfa-19411b3cd5af","order_by":0,"name":"Xiameng Wei","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Xijing University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xiameng","middleName":"","lastName":"Wei","suffix":""},{"id":338663257,"identity":"d7fd2935-8204-485d-84a1-bda90dd9f665","order_by":1,"name":"Binbin Fan","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Xi'an Jiaotong University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Binbin","middleName":"","lastName":"Fan","suffix":""},{"id":338663258,"identity":"c65ebfe2-c4c9-4ebe-8dca-90717ac97243","order_by":2,"name":"Ying Wang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Xi'an Jiaotong University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ying","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""},{"id":338663261,"identity":"2f5ed346-bb57-4497-945d-d3cfe8f1522d","order_by":3,"name":"Yanxiang Feng","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Xi'an Jiaotong University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yanxiang","middleName":"","lastName":"Feng","suffix":""},{"id":338663264,"identity":"e8faa8b9-067a-4fda-b3af-fbb2d1a594e8","order_by":4,"name":"Laiyi Fu","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA1klEQVRIie3RMQrCMBiG4U+Udil2zaJeQeki1MP8WZpFnR0cAkJXZ2/hEVoCnSqudbM36OgkxhTXmFEw7xIC/0MSAvh8P9gYAwlaYQoU7/3wOwkMyZAAypm8y8BlP+1CQpWzOylxLq8Vwy7lMrwUdhLxnBGpzUmqgKEWXEZb+nIxTfhDbY7QZJArLlk0t5O4NaeIwJCnC2H9xSg2RDqR9rAkEgv9lmRJlUjyaG0ncSza24PS2bwp26bbp5NjWNuJbsTMwgqA8Pkpe8OuP086zPp8Pt9f9gKquULb6FjLNAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"Xi'an Jiaotong University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Laiyi","middleName":"","lastName":"Fu","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-07-17 03:24:07","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4753224/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4753224/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s40494-025-01635-9","type":"published","date":"2025-03-06T15:58:40+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":78190754,"identity":"489ad6f1-5c6b-4afe-8c10-3b40a2f4938d","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-03-10 19:50:46","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1876079,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"MERspringerFinal.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4753224/v1_covered_f7271290-a6c2-4ece-9b18-c212191226e6.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Progressive enhancement and restoration for mural images under low-light and defected conditions based on multi-receptive field strategy","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"npj-heritage-science","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"hsci","sideBox":"Learn more about [Heritage Science](http://heritagesciencejournal.springeropen.com)","snPcode":"40494","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/40494/3","title":"npj Heritage Science","twitterHandle":"@SpringerOpen","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"BMC/SO AJ","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Ancient murals restoration, Image inpainting, Low-light enhancement","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4753224/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4753224/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Ancient murals are valuable cultural heritage with great archaeological value. 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