Attached is my Live Trace- created object to which I want to impart some depth (or relief), and recolor.. So is that all there is to it?  just perhaps send it through live trace again but reduce the number of colors, and then change the pallette?  I suppose I could use Live Color and manually change the colors.  Or perhaps there is a photoshop filter that I could run the jpg through first, before doing the live trace, which would make assigning colors easier (ie, by using the color replace)

Oh, hmm I don't see a way to attach a file.  Here is a link to the .ai file:  http://mmmspeciosa.com/public/krato-kash_flower.ai

Interesting -- how did you do the gradient such that it bleeds through the object?  I haven't worked with Illustrator in a few months..  also does it matter what the background of the bas relief effect is -- that is, the angle/position of the gradient?  could you just briefly mention the steps again.  I ended up trying the bas relief effect, followed by exporting to a jpeg (rasterizing didn't seem to let me go forward with another live trace action), and then I traced, but at that point, I didn't know what to do.  I'm having trouble figuring out how to separate the main parts of the trace from the background greated by the live trace, or maybe I'm just going about this in the wrong order.  I do also want freedom to determine the lighting/gradient, though I couldn't figure out if that should be handled at the time I do the bas relief effect (which I don't know how to do -- only given the options of top, topleft, etc -- although maybe I could play with rotating the object first)0, or later..

At the end I presume you just used the pathfinder to make the circle?

lastly, when you say you'd go over it, do you mean using, say, the pen tool?  I do have a wacom tablet, though I don't have a lot of experience using it, but perhaps using it with the pressure to vary stroke width would work?  I agree, I think it would make the object, especially the flower, clearer to go over it again.

anyway, thanks a lot for taking the time to answer my questions, really appreciate it!

Thanks much.  I think I am going to find some more suitable photographs from which to cut the leaves/flower, something with better shading that might produce a better (simpler) result.

ps, select similar is powerful!