Evenly spacing objects

[xtined]

Good morning.

I'm an intermediate/advanced Photoshop user who has to use Illustrator for a project (Lord help me) and I've done okay so far, but there's one thing that I can't figure out even when I search.

Book cover foil printing.

Each of the petals of this flower is a separate object. They are too close together for the printer and it looks blobby.

I'd like to increase the space between the objects while keeping the edges of the group where they are. So, each of the objects will have to be a little smaller.

Alternately, if the space can increase as well as the overall size, that's fine as long as those between-spaces maintain their proportional size when I transform the group smaller (there's got to be a clearer way to say that).

I have tried "distribute", but it's a tool I'm not really sure how to use so the results have been... funny.

I have tried doing it by hand by dragging anchors around, but the results have looked as unprofessional as you might imagine.

SYSTEM INFO:
Mac book Air M1 2020

Monterey 12.5

Illustrator 25.4.1

User: Brand new

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Ton Frederiks]

You can try Object > Transform > Transform Each and scale them.

The objects need to be Ungrouped first and selected.

[xtined]

NOT BAD! I need to do a little nudging but it's not bad at all!

[Ton Frederiks]

Good to hear that helped.

[Jacob Bugge]

xtined,

I believe I should prefer to use Object>Path>Offset Path with a negative offset, applied to the topmost set of 3 yellowred paths (corresponding to head/neck and wings) and to the set of 2 yellowred paths (corresponding to skirt) second from the bottom.

Just select all those paths and apply the Offset Path with the same negative offset value and hide the originals (each original will be just beneath the corresponding offset path in the expanded Layers panel, and you can find those by the coloured dot the the right (just close the eyes of the originals.

Then you can see how it looks.

If it requires adjustment, you can use Ctrl/Cmd+Z to go back and start over.

And if you need to set more customized offsets, you can apply the Offset Path to the individual paths.

I believe a suitable offset of those 3 + 2 = 5 paths may give nice shapes and consistent gaps without any need to change the other yellowred paths and the browngreen ones.

Edit: Hi Ton. Enough rain last week to have water on the roads in the hills, and then a silent night where all was calm, all was bright, so dawn on Friday was an excellent opportunity to enjoy the thrill of summer tyres on ice while waiting for the delayed studded ones.

[xtined]

Totally different, but also solves the problem. The change in shape might be a little much for me, but it's really darn good and this method might work for the stems and leaves.
Thanks to both of you SO MUCH. I have two ways to do it!

[Jacob Bugge]

xtined,

As far as I can see, you have applied the offset to all the 9 yellowred paths, and in that case I would suggest a smaller offset, maybe half the value; I believe that will also be enough for the printer.

[Jacob Bugge]

xtined,

Of course, I will join Ton in suggesting the Effect way with its much easier editing option.

As a curiosity, depending on your view setting, this answer may come before the one by Ton that I refer to.

[Ton Frederiks]

As Jacob suggested, offset path is a good way to do it. I would prefer the Effect > Path > Offset Path...

You can continue to finetune by double clicking it in the Appearance panel, until you are satisfied and choose Object > Expand Appearance.

[Ton Frederiks]

Hi Jacob, rain here everyday since weeks, but too warm for ice.