Pro Video Coalition posted a video tutorial on creating a 2.5D scene from a layered photoshop file.

In it is the solution I have been looking for to one of Motion’s most vexing problems. How to quickly change the depth of a layer whilst scaling it so it doesn’t appear to move!

The answer is with the canvas “in focus” Command Click the Z-Depth Button on the HUD and drag it forward or back. It won’t appear to make a difference but if you pull up the “perspective” view you’ll notice that it is working.

Hooray! - This will literally save me an hour a project. Why I never thought to try command-clicking is strange, generally I’m on top of this type of trick…