Pond Properties

Options

Depth

How deep the pond is at its center.

Important: Depending on your local building codes, ponds deeper than a certain depth may require a fence or have other restrictions for safety purposes. Please check your local building codes before building a real pond.

Depth taper

How steep the pond sides are. 

Water level

Percentage of the pond that is filled with water.

Water effect

Water appearance in the Perspective view. Water can be calm, have small ripples, or even include foam (for creating natural spas and hot tubs).

Water ripples will also occur automatically when water flows into the pond from another source, such as a waterfall.

Edge style

How sharp or smooth the transition is between the edge of the pond and the underlying surface.

In Architect, this only affects the Perspective view. The transition is always sharp in the Plan view.

Add fish

Add koi fish during a Realtime Walkthrough.

In order for fish to appear, wildlife must be enabled in the Realtime Walkthrough tab of the Environment Settings dialog. Fish will also not appear in ponds that are too small or shallow.

Caution: Koi cannot survive in spa water.

Edit points

Enable or disable point editing mode, which will allow you to modify the shape. See Editing Points for details.

Shape options

Save the current shape or load a new one. For more details, see Saving and Loading Shapes.

Rock Border

Add Rock Border

Add a rock border to the pond perimeter.

Rock material

Material of the rock border.

Smoother rocks

Use a smoother version of the rocks. Uncheck for rocks with rough edges.

Rock size

Approximate size of each rock.

Edit border

Enable or disable rock border editing mode, which will allow you to modify the pond’s rock border per edge. When rock border editing mode is enabled, click the edges of your pond that you want to toggle.

Information

Area

Total size of the pond in square feet or meters.

Perimeter

Total distance around the pond in feet or meters.

Volume

Amount of water in the pond in cubic feet or meters. The water volume is calculated using the average depth, and should be used as an approximation rather than an exact figure.