"Chris Herring" wrote :

I think it would be really cool to model my yard in 3-d on the computer..
Anyone have advice RE a relatively inexpensive ($100-$200)? 3D
design-rendering software that might work? Or is it impossible to get
something worthwhile in that price range?

Rhino3D is around that price and can certainly do the job. The learning
curve is not too bad and best of all, when you make your pond, you can have
it calculate the volume.

There is a demo version that might fill your bill.
http://www.rhino3d.com/


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