For my low poly models, I wanted to create something simple and familiar, as I’ve struggled in the past using 3D modeling software. I created the two common types of theatrical flats, Broadway- and Hollywood- styles. These are often painted and used on the stage to represent all sorts of things, most often background structures.

These flats were easy to create in Maya even with limited knowledge, as they are entirely constructed with rectangular prisms (using the cube primitive object, rescaled to the proper dimensions). They’re not perfect (the edges of the braces are slightly misaligned), but in many ways, digitally creating these flats in Maya was easier than creating them in a woodshop, as I did not have to deal with warped wood or right-angle troubles (some very common annoyances in theatrical carpentry).

These models gave me a solid introduction to Maya, as well as the confidence to try something more complex. This video shows a template used to create a 3D lantern shape (intended for use on small-scale battle maps for a Dungeons & Dragons game), and I would love to learn how to use the tools Maya provides to create something similar in a digital context.