Learning how to transform an empty space into one alive with dramatic possibilities is one of the challenges facing students in several disciplines--for example, graphic design, filmmaking, gaming, architecture, interior design, visual arts, and designing and directing for the theatre. The author, a professor of directing for the theatre, investigated and compared two widely different approaches--one conventional, the other digital--in meeting a challenge particular to his discipline: creating the environments for theatrical productions. The conventional approach involves using paper models to represent scenic elements, and the digital approach involves using a digitized virtual space offered by software called Google SketchUp.