you've been able to import objects since at least 4.0 - im fairly sure you could do it when designer was still called pro-fx but my memory is hazy and i didnt use it between then and 4.0 the object needs to be a resource - you can save preset 3d view scenes now I think though
I want the spread between each pattern to be random number instead of an average spacing. Unfortunately it isn't like the FX map, so I don't know how to write a function for randomizing that