Hair particle system question

Hi

I’m trying to make a short animation of the inside of an intestines, where the surface is covered with thousands of finger-like projections called ‘villi’.

I’d like it to look similar to thishttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sYg3QYFjfY, but instead of very thin projections (grass), I’d like them to be thicker, & perhaps with the below shape.

Can this thicker shape (not necessarily with the curves but just much thicker than ‘hair’/grass) be achieved within the particle hair system settings, or is this a time when a particle instance modifier should be used? Any other tips for it?

Thanks in advance

Ah, and I also need to animate the hair/villi getting smaller over the course of the animation…

Here is an example setup. The grass/villi grow on the inside of a tube that is deforming along a curve. Wind blows the hair/villi. Frames 30-60 the hair shrinks in length. If you already have your Villi modeled just swap the grass models for your villi models.

Attachments

268_villi_moving_shrinking.blend (171 KB)


Thanks Atom, this is hugely appreciated