That show was slightly before my time, but here's what I can say.(NDA and all)
The fur was created via proprietary code (HDK) in Houdini and rendered with Renderman. It had/has all the basic barbering controls most systems use today. Since then it has gone through 3 or 4 evolution's and modifications to enhance and further the technology.
But the “basics” of the method are the same as you find in the
odforce.net site. There is a hair tutorial there with some dynamic hacks.
http://www.odforce.net/tips/ [
odforce.net] (I don't think Jason will mind me posting it here).
Other than that you can always try to find cinefex #75.
-k