The painting itself 'London: The Thames on Lord Mayor’s Day, looking towards the City and St. Paul’s Cathedral' lives in Italy, and this is the first time in over 260 years it's been seen on English soil. The exhibition charts the royal use of the Thames over centuries, and brings together rarely seen artifacts, paintings, and photographs in a grand display curated by David Starkey. Running until 27th September, we can thoroughly recommend a trip to Greenwich http://www.rmg.co.uk/visit/events/royal-river. But, if you can't make it to South London, here's a sequence from the movie.. As it's over 5000 pixels wide, we've created a more screen-friendly edit, complete with some 'behind-the-scenes' footage! www.beakus.com/blog/nmm-royal-river

The immersive painting shows a busy boat-filled Thames in the mid-1700's, brought to life by clever projection mapping and 3D CGI animation rendered over 5000 pixels wide. The intricate painted waves swell and ebb, flags billow, and canon's fire smoke across the water… As an introduction to this major new exhibition, the animation certainly sets the scene.

Beakus brought together talented director Leo Bridle and top CGI modeller Phil Norman to create the looping film. 118 layers of boats, rigging, flags and surrounding buildings were cut out from the painting, and patches painted in their stead. When we made the digital version of his Thames view, we were astounded to find that it perfectly married his original hand-painted version – because, after all, Canaletto was a master of perspective. He painted in 3D…

We have another collection of animated movies on display at the museum, but to see them you'll have to pretend to be 15 and studying, get your hands on one of their new tablet PCs, and take a photo of specific objects in the museum's collection! Carrying tablet PCs around the museum is a great way for young history students to access more in-depth and specific information about what they find there, and Beakus have created 5 object-specific animated movies on subjects ranging from the growth of British trade across India, to slavery and the use of ships to transport goods. Fortunately, we've put them on our website here: www.beakus.com/blog/nmm-mobile-learning.

We have created 5 stand-alone animated clips for the National Maritime Museum to help illuminate objects in the museum's collection. Students visiting the museum can now get their hands on tablet PC's and carry them around the gallery snapping photos of objects that interest them… 5 lucky objects trigger our animations, which shed more light on subjects such as slavery, trade across India, and the use of ships in early intercontinental trade. Here we present all 5 clips (in case you're not a student, or visiting the museum any time soon!)…

Here's a screen-friendly version of our 5000 pixel-wide moving painting for the National Maritime Museum's amazing exhibition: 'Royal River, Power, Pageantry and the Thames', complete with behind-the-scenes footage..!

The looping animation adorns 4-screens above the museum's reception desk, and was visited by the Queen in April 2012. We like to think she stood awhile and reflected on the mastery of our digital trickery…. but we can't be sure.

We turned a Canaletto painting, 'London: The Thames on Lord Mayor’s Day, looking towards the City and St. Paul’s Cathedral (circa 1750)', in to a 3D environment which we explore. The water ripples, canons fire and flags billow in a truly immersive experience. The final sequence is a luxurious journey around Canaletto's painting, brought to life with technology. Installed in time for the Queen's visit, we had this response about the opening event from the National Maritime Museum: "People were having their photos taken in front of your animation rather than the actual painting!!! You’ve upstaged Canaletto!".

The painting itself is on loan to the National Maritime Museum and is in England for the first time since it was painted, over 260 years ago! Curated by David Starkey the exhibition runs from now until 9th September 2012, and we can well recommend a visit..

We're thrilled to see Numtums is going down so well, but want to re-iterate that the BBC are solely responsible for making and marketing Numtum toys, so it's very much up to them. At Beakus we designed the Numtums, and created the animation, but the concept came from the BBC, hence it's up to them when, and if, any Numtum toys will be made. Sorry!! But, to speed things up, read on…..

Dear BBC – as a subtle nudge for you to start making Numtum toys, here is a selection of requests we've received from desperate parents over the past two months..!

• Does the mother-in-law have a pattern? I would love to get my mum to make one. Maybe she could adapt it to make Super Numtum!
  
• Hi there, can I buy one of your stuffed numtums?!
  
• Can you please advise when the numtum toys will be available to purchase. My 22 month old son loves numtums and won't watch anything else. Its his birthday soon and I would love to be able to buy him one.
  
• My wife and I just saw a note on your website about the lovely Numtum stuffed toys and wanted to ask how (or more importantly, if) we could get one made for our Numtum-mad little boy, Dexter? He's a massive fan of the show and gets incredibly excited when it's on – especially when Super Numtum makes an appearance. And it's Super Numtum that we would love to get for him, if at all possible. I can only imagine you're inundated with requests and poor Lorraine is being worked to death – but if I didn't ask I'd never forgive myself. Please let me know what we can do, if anything, to help bribe you all.
  
• How much would it be to buy a numtum number two?
  
• Could you please advise me if and where i can buy Numtum toys, my 18 month old son loves the numtum programme.
  
• These are fab my daughter loves numtums. Will these be available to buy?
  
• We love numtums and want toys..
  
• I'd be interested in buying some numtum toys if possibile as my two year old son is mad about the numtums :)
  
• My children and I are huge fans of the Numtums. Congratulations on creating such a fantastic show. I think that the Numtum toy that Lorraine made are wonderful, and I was wondering if there were any plans for more Numtum toys in the pipeline? Would it be possible to commission Lorraine to make two more, and how much would that cost?
  
• Hello. Please tell me if you're going to sell Numtums toys… My daughter is absolutely nuts for them! If you are planning to put them into production, please put something online.. I personally know at least 10 kids who'd go mad for a whole set!
  
• Hello, I am wondering if I can purchase a Numtums felt soft toy from your fantastic childrens programme. I am hoping you can give me more information as to were I can find one!
  
• I saw in your blog that you're starting to produce Numtums soft toys – do you know where and when they'll be available as my daughter Grace is obsessed with them (and it's her birthday next Friday 27th – she'd love me if I could get her one!)
  
• hi my son is 3 and loves numbers an so loves the numtums, he is fixed on the games on cbeebies website and the program i have entered in to google for toys an book as little figures would make great a great counting aid, but all ive found are your fantastic stuffed toys and wondered if i could buy oneor maybe two or even more so he has 1 to10 his fave numtum is 10 so thats what we'd start with
  
• hi there where can i buy a numtum number 2 please my daughter loves this?
  
• Would love to purchase the Numtum plush toy/range if possible for my little boy, he loves that programme and it will aid with his number learning as he learns more, visually.
  
• Desperate parent here??? Are you making or know anywhere that sells Numtum teddies……You'd make a fortune if like my little girl they want all 10 teddies!! Please let me know your plans ….Thank you.
  
• I was searching online to find when a Numtums dvd may be due for release and was directed to your site as a point of information….are you able to tell me when this may be released as am very keen to buy a copy asap for my little daughter!
  
• my daughter s 4th birthday is on the 16th and she absolutely fell in love with the numtum characters! any chance of purchasing one of the soft toys?
  
• I read an article saying you had a go at making the Numtums toys. Just wondered…. can I buy any anywhere?
  
• My little boy of 7 adores them and his younger brother is learning all the numbers at the age of 3. Please help.
  
• My two year old daughter has been addicted since the first airing and can now recognise all her numbers and count to ten. Even when Numtums isn't on the tv, she is asking to watch it on the BBC I player.
  
• Are the any plans for any merchandise, as she would love a number 5 teddy? Thank you so much again, keep up the good work!!!
  
• My daughter and I love the show, the animation, the music the content is just fantastic. We would really love to get some numtum toys. Where could we purchase them from and how much are they?
  
• My daughter has just turned two and is beginning to learn her numbers (she can count to thirteen as that is the number of stairs we have!). She loves cbeebies and we have been watching Numtums – will you be making more of the delightful felt dolls for retail in the future? Also, can I suggest a set of little plastic figures with the numbers so small kids can use them to count as I think they would sell really well.
  
• Are there any sets of ten soft by tum toys? I would love to get some for my 2 year old daughter …..
  
• Will there be toys available to buy, and if so when? They would make my daughter very happy indeed!
  
• How much do your Numtum dolls cost?

http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/news/?newsID=3354350

The looping animation adorns 4-screens above the museum's reception desk, and was visited by the Queen this week! We like to think she stood awhile and reflected on the mastery of our digital trickery…. but we can't be sure.

We turned a Canaletto painting, 'London: The Thames on Lord Mayor’s Day, looking towards the City and St. Paul’s Cathedral (circa 1750)', in to a 3D environment which we explore. The water ripples, canons fire and flags billow in a truly immersive experience. The painting itself is on loan to the National Maritime Museum and this in England for the first time since it was painted, over 260 years ago!

Curated by David Starkey the exhibition runs from now until 9th September, and we can well recommend a visit! And we'll post the actual animation up here soon!..

Check it out here: http://beakus.com/blog/elevator-up-elevator-down

All enquiries should be directed to: Valentina Guarneri or Rita Comi via sayhello@itsmachas.com.

Machas writes: "We are very excited about this new entry in our team and not just because it’s a BAFTA-nominated studio who produces fascinating animations and masters an impressive amount of techniques – they are genuinely nice people!"

Joining Machas is like finding a kindred spirit. We click. Our aspirations are very similar – to make amazing, unique, and beautiful work. At Beakus we live and breathe animation and see it as an art-form, not just a means to an end. We’ve had an incredible couple of years, and created some memorable projects for big named clients, so we’re looking forward to working closely with Machas to deliver bold, inventive animation that hits the spot every time!

Onwards…!