Techniques are presented that are used to animate and render particle systems with the Connection Machine CM-2, a data parallel supercomputer. A particle behavior language provides an animator with levels of control from kinematic spllne motions to physically based simulations. A parallel particle rendering system allows particles of different shapes, sizes, colors and transparencies to be rendered with antiallasing, hidden surfaces, and motion-blur. One virtual processor is assigned to each

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... mitive data element: one to each particle, and during the rendering process, one to each pixeLsized particle fragment, and to each pixel. These tools are used to model dynamic phenomena such as wind, snow, water, and fire.