TED-Ed tackles the Higgs Field

The thought struck me last night that even though I spend at least 8 hours a day at Powerhouse Animation, I rarely really get to talk about what I do there on my blog.  Mostly that's because of NDA's but also it's because I rarely get to show and tell, since a project might not come out for months after completion or might not ever even see a public audience.  Well, here's my chance!

We've done a couple of projects for TED-Ed, but this was the first to post.  PHA collaborated with FermiLab scientist Don Lincoln (who provides the narration) to produce an introduction to the Higgs Field theory, which outlines how mass may be assigned to particles.  The trick was that we only had a brief window in our work-schedule to produce it -- so it was decided to make it in a retro-1950's UPA'esque design style (which the character-designer Kellan Stover kinda knows his way around) which can be drawn, animated, and re-used very easily.  I painted most of the backgrounds and much of the incidental artwork (the trophies, the projecter, etc.)  Fun stuff!  My favorite part though is that the video ends basically saying "this could win somebody the Nobel Prize one day", and in fact only a few days ago it was indeed awarded to Profs. François Englert and Peter Higgs!  Congratulations to them!

Check out the full lesson at TED-Ed!