Remember, as you're viewing your figures on the computer screen (left) that perspective will play a big role in your finished creche (right). I hope you'll agree that visually the original straw was not the right solution as a base for the figures. Arranging the figures Playing stage manager—Look at all the figures you have available. What groupings make sense? Some arrangements will be obvious: camels and magi; shephereds and sheep; Mary and Joseph. Others might not need fresh eyes to become apparent. There's nothing like a good night's sleep to give you a new perspective on things! How many planes?—In this case I limited myself to three. This, in part, was dictated by the small number of figures I had to work with. I had 16 in this case. which sounds like a lot, but many were a treasure box and a few sets of doves. The best way to decide "how many figures" and "how many planes" is to place each figure on a different Phtoshop layer. With Photoshop 6 you can also create different folders for each of your planes. That way you gain some control over your project by being able to render a whole folder (or plane) of figure visible or invisible. One of the more complex creches I've created had its layers multiplying faster than bunnies in clover! (I had over 95 layers!) This isn't a problem, of course, but use folders—and keep your sanity! Playing choreographer—With layers, you can easily move figures along a plane, or move them to a different plane altogether to suit your taste and design needs. As you can see from the image of the two planes (bottom left, above) you can't always see every square centimenter of each figure as you're working. But remember that you're working on a two dimensional screen. When viewed, you'll be able to see al the figures well due to perspective—provided that is, that you've been a careful in your arrangements. Distance between planes—My rule of thumb is this: the distance between planes depends on the height of your figures. Usually, I have found that for, say, 2.5" high figures 3/4" between planes works just fine. Again, use low-res models: cut out a low-resolution printouts of your planes, and arrange them on a desk . You'll see right away what the right distance between them should be. Straw or stylized base?—Although usually I use elements from the original figures for their base, I didn't like the way straw looked here. A little out of place, don't you think? Look at the image on the right, above. Do you think that the base I created looks better? At any rate, do what suits your fancy! And remember to add gluing tabss at both ends of your figure bases. Usually 1/2 inch tabs work just fine for me.