[silentelysium]

In the organic chem lab we synthesised a piperidinone with two phenyl groups and and 2 methyl rings on either side of the ring, and one of questions asked in our exercises is to account for which diastereomer is the most thermodynamically stable. The exercise also suggests the most stable diastereomer forms a chair confomer. I read that for chair confomers, confomers which has least amount of bulky substituents in the axial position is the most stable. I've done that and I can't seem to visualise it in a more planar view (where the ring is flat and the substituents are connected with dashes and wedges).

Can anyone suggest any resources which can help me understand how to convert chair conformers to the dashes-and-wedges planar structure?

It would really help. Thanks.