A plugin for quickly distributing objects in a 2D space?

[jonaslundstrom]

Hi,

I use Sketchup making seating arrangements for theater seating and banquet seating in a convention hall. To do this now I have my chairs and tables in groups and I use the copy tool to place them out evenly in one dimension and then copy that array in the other. What I would like though is a tool similar to the tool for creating tables in word (see image). What I imagine is a tool that lets me draw a shape, either a simple rectangle or even better, a random shape that the plugin would populate with my objects according to my specifications.

The tools I have found so far distribute objects either randomly for such things as people or trees, or perfectly even. For my theater seating however, I put my chairs next to each other along the row but leave a space so that people can reach the chair and sit down in the other axis. (see image)

Is there such a tool out there?

/Jonas

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[Rich O Brien]

Maybe a dynamic component would help.

[cotty]

Or the Skatter plugin ($)...

[pilou]

Or the extremly versatile genious Randomly Replace Components by Sdmitch! (2D or 3D)
(for me the best

[jonaslundstrom]

@rich o brien said:

Maybe a dynamic component would help.

Thank you so much for this suggestion. I quickly discovered how to build a dynamic component that creates copies in one direction using the scale tool. Any suggestions of how to use the same trick on the same components in the other directions? I would think that the "copy" counter will only be helpful in one direction. Is there a way to nest a dynamic component to accomplish this?