Simple text question..

[Nate Vander plas]

Do you mean you want your text to look like it’s on the ground or a wall (or some other flat object)? If so, make the text layer 3D and then rotate it in 3D space to look like it’s on the object. A drop shadow can help too.

[Mike Clasby]

You can also change the orientation of the 2D text with Distort>Corner Pin or Distort>Transform (to skew). I like Corner Pin.

If you want the text to appear to adhere or sink into a surface (especially a surface with texture), Displacement Mapping is the way to go. See Aharon’s tuts on Horror Writing (on a Wall, it’s probably what you want, he makes the layer 3D) or 3 tuts on Displacement Maps (for details in depth).

Also if the place where you want to have you text moves (like a pan of a billboard or a monitor) look to Tracking to keep the text in perspective as the shot changes. Here are two Adobe tuts that do just that:

Keep motion in perspective

https://studio.adobe.com/us/tips/tip.jsp?p=1&id=100241&xml=aft65cornerpin

Using the new Motion Tracker

https://studio.adobe.com/us/tips/tip.jsp?p=1&id=487&xml=aft6ttmotiontracker