MX Simulator

Here's a little script to create .shp files with Blender. To install it, go to User Preferences > Addons > Install from File and select the script. To use it, create a mesh that has only spheres and export it. Either UV spheres or ico spheres will work. The spheres must have a radius > .5 and there is a 25 sphere limit.

http://mxsimulator.com/scripts/shp_export_0_1.py

Does this have any advantages over the old method? It just seems to give you better visual help otherwise less "usable" (I use the word loosely, in a sense that you can have more spheres and different sizes.)

Just easier to use. If you hit the limits you probably need to re-think how your object should work.