Yes, I do sometimes do 2D art lol. Those who have seen my fairy series know what I mean. Though lately, my images have been much darker. I'm working on one now, and need to figure out how to do a special effect I need. I need to overlay a water caustic image on a floor, flat, but then I need to have it chage to vertical to blend into a figure. I can lay it flat, I can lay it vertical, but what I can't figure out is how to distort it so it goes up into the figure. If I was working in Max as I usually do, it would be simple. Make a circle, apply the texture, grab the center and pull it up so it makes an kind of inverted funnel shape. But in 2D I just don't know. Anyone have any ideas? I'm working in CS3.

I think you may be referring to displacement mapping. I’ve gathered these four tutorials for you to illustrate the procedure. There are many others on the Net and many YouTube videos as well. Hope this is what you’re looking for.

http://www.photoshopcafe.com/tutorials/dispmap/dispmap.htm

http://www.heathrowe.com/displacement-map-example/

http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-effects/texture-map/

http://psdesignzone.com/displacement-mapping-in-photoshop

i would recommend  using displacement maps too. that should give you the effect you are looking for bone.

Got an example of what're trying to do? I think I have an idea, but I need to see how it would be applied.

-Lew

ok