"Exploding" objects apart evenly in inkscape

Question

Just wondering if this is possible by some built in function or a plugin of some sort.

Basically, I need to take a group of objects, and 'explode' them apart evenly.

So, if I started with the 4 squares in the first image:

I need to 'explode' them apart by a certain amount, so that the gaps between them are evenly spaced. See second picture for illustration:

I would just select them one at a time and space them by moving them via the arrow keys, but I've got a few images that have hundreds of objects that this needs to be done to.

Answer 1

You can open the Align and Distribute panel Shift+Ctrl+A, and use the "Remove overlaps" functionality, even though there are no overlaps.

1. Select all the objects

2. In the Align and Distribute panel, set the H and V values the same, say something like 50 for example, and hit the move button.

Example:

Answer 2

For non-rectangular geometry you can apply the following approach:

1. Select objects and open Object → Transform... → Scale

2. Scale down objects with checked 'Apply to each box separately' (e.g. 80%)

3. Scale up objects with unchecked 'Apply to each box separately' (e.g. 125%)

Note: in the last step you can write 10000/xx, where xx is the percentage applied at step 2.

Answer 3

It's a common feature request.

To get this implemented, you could add your support to one of the linked issues from here:

https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inbox/-/issues/2619

https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inbox/-/issues/671

(There are probably more of that type in the tracker)