Particles: a naturally parallel approach to modeling

Particle-based technique that are being developed for the mechanical and visual modeling of complex nonrigid materials are described. These are motivated by both the goal of developing a real-time training simulator for arthroscopic surgery and the goal of developing an accurate model of cloth for automatic garment handling. In this approach a material is represented as a large collection of microscopic particles interacting with each other according to simple physical laws operating on a microscopic level. Since modeled materials derive their macroscopic properties from these microscopic interactions, the technique closely parallels the actual discrete structures of nature. The development of software tools for use in experimentation, which has been the focus of initial investigations, is discussed