PoolForge builds a complete swimming pool in Blender and keeps every setting live.

Version 1.0, for Blender 4.5 LTS and newer.

1. Install

1. In Blender, open Edit > Preferences > Get Extensions.
2. Click the arrow at the top right, then Install from Disk.
3. Pick the PoolForge zip. The extension is enabled at once.

PoolForge never connects to the internet.

2. Add a pool

1. Place the 3D cursor where the pool goes.
2. Press N to open the sidebar, then click the PoolForge tab.
3. Click Add Pool and pick a shape: Rectangle, L-Shape, Kidney, Oval or Rounded Ends.

The pool arrives with its coping, terrace, water and two underwater lights. It is also in Add > Mesh > Pool.

3. Shape and size

• Standard Size: twelve common sizes, from 4 x 2 m to a 20 x 3 m lap pool.
• Length and Width: free, to the centimetre. They are inside sizes, from wall to wall.
• Corner Radius rounds the outer corners of a rectangle or an L.
• Notch Length and Notch Width shape the cut-out corner of an L.
• Waist and Balance shape a kidney.

4. Depth

• Flat: one depth everywhere (1.40 m when you pick it).
• Gentle Slope: from the shallow end to the deep end (1.10 m to 1.80 m).
• Compound Slope: a shallow plateau, then a steep slope (1.00 m to 2.00 m).

Depths are water depths. Water Level sets how far the water sits under the deck.

5. Stairs, bench, sun shelf

• Roman Stairs: pick a side, a position, the number of steps and the radius of the lowest step. The panel shows the height of each step.
• Bench: a seat along a side, under the water.
• Sun Shelf: a shallow ledge at the shallow end, to sit or lie in the water.

Sides are named in the pool's own frame: Front is -Y, Back is +Y, Left is -X, Right is +X. Rotate the pool object freely: the sides turn with it.

6. Coping, overflow, terrace

• Coping: Rounded Stone, Flat Stone or Wood, with its width and overhang.
• Overflow Edges: turn on one side for an infinity edge facing the view, or all four for a mirror pool. The water flows over a stone edge into a gutter below.
• Terrace: Stone Tiles, Wood Decking or Smooth Concrete, with its own width on each side.

7. Your ground

If your scene has a ground at the level of the deck, it hides the pool. Pick that ground in the Cut Hole In field: a hole follows the pool and its terrace. Nothing is applied to your ground. Clear the field and the hole is gone.

8. Water, liner, lights

• Liner: Blue, Sand, Grey or Mosaic. The water colour deepens with depth.
• Water Tint, Wave Height, Wave Size and Wave Speed shape the water. The waves move when you play the animation.
• Lights: up to six underwater lights on one side, with their colour and power.

9. Render

• EEVEE: the water is clear with reflections, and moving light patterns are painted on the floor.
• Cycles: the water refracts. Select the pool and click Set Up Cycles Caustics in the Render section: your sun and lights then cast real light patterns through the water.
• Fake Caustics (Render section): Auto paints them in EEVEE only. On or Off forces them.

For crisp Cycles caustics, give the sun a small angle (1 degree or less) and render with 256 samples or more.

10. Export

Click Freeze in the Render section: the pool becomes plain meshes with the waves applied, ready for FBX, glTF or USD. Unfreeze brings the settings back.

Good to know

• Settings are not animatable. Set the pool, then animate your camera.
• The demo scene (contemporary villa over a bay) opens and renders in Cycles even without the extension.

License

The PoolForge code is free software under the GNU General Public License, version 3 or later. The demo scene and its materials come under the license you chose when buying.