I think I understand what you are referring to.......
Other than a simple scale to, different, scale build,,,, It is called "forced perspective".....
It's utilized in image / photography depiction / deception. Giving the effect of depth to a photo by using a larger scale in the foreground and consecutive smaller scales in the background (depth of field).
It is a very cool photo method and I have seen it produce great results,, (I have not tried this yet though).
OR,,,,,,,,,, I could be totally missing what you mean (hopefully not)
Bill