I was hoping we would be able to use Houdini 9.5 for this project, but rumor has it, it won't be on the renderfarm until the beginning of next semester (it also doesn't seem to be as stable as 9.1) As a result, we won't be able to use those wonderful fur shelf tools. So, I've started to set up an eppie that can be easily edited with paint sops, so anyone can sit down and manipulate the fur. Here is the basic node setup thusfar:

There will be 2 layers of fur, the base layer will be for random, longer gray hairs, while the other will be sculpted fur. On the right is a simple lighting setup for depth map shadows.

With this (still fairly basic) node setup, a user can sit down, and paint the fur density using the paint2 node. They can also manipulate the fur direction with the comb node. The density is controlled by the color from the paint node. I'm stuck trying to figure out how to also control furlength with another paint node. I might have to force the red channel to control density, so the blue channel can control length. Width and initial length can be changed in the 'main control' node.

Here we can see how the painted density affects the fur guide hairs. This is just a test, to make sure it's working correctly.

A mantra fur procedural is being used at rendertime, as well as the default hair material. Here is the resulting render:

Next up will be getting furlength, color, and clumping to be easily editable.