Spacing shapes around another shape...

[Badkitty]

Does anyone know how to space shapes, say little circles around another shape, like a big circle? And then how would you distribute them around the circle so the spacing is even?

 

[javabearSTL]

In v11, this is what I'd do - I'd have my circle I want to put the other items around and I'd make another circle just a little bit larger than the one I want the objects round - center those two. (remember, you can hit the + key on the keypad and it will dupe your selected object right on top of itself. You can then just increase the size of this obect to make it larger and centered).

I'd then take one small circle and place it as my start point and then make another circle and put it close to where i want it to end. I'd then choose the Interactive Blend tool, select my first circle and then drag it to my end circle. Now in the Property Bar, set the # of blended steps you want (I think the default is 20), click on the Path Properties button and choose to select a new path. Click on the larger of the two circles and they'll distribute themselves around the circle... but not fully. Click on the Miscellaneous Blend Options button and click Blend Along Full Path. If there are too many or not enough circles, just change the Number of Steps Between Blends and they'll auto-align around the circle.

These will be grouped, so if you want to separate your little circles from the big circle, just click on Arrange, Break Apart and get rid of the big circle.