It is not any definite object that I am after Michael, just general deformation as most of my work is cad turned into 3d sculpture prints and as you know reality really has very few true flat surfaces straight lines or curves. My attempt to mimic these with a solid deformation as opposed to a bumpmap is what started me thinking.

I have just tried an example igs file from Zsurf, and sure enough Moi's flow command does apply it to a surface. I will try a bit of experimenting and see how I get on, even if I can apply detail from an image to some surfaces that would otherwise be modelled would be a big time saver.

I have also been looking at one of the posts in the "distort curve script" thread which will also give me some distortion possibilities.
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=6659.13