3ds Max :: Align Objects Along Spline With Style

Basically I want to duplicate an object along a spline. Sure there's the spacing tool, but listen what the problem is. I want to keep it parametric so that I can pick the path, duplicate the object along it, tweak the distance between the clones, vary the size of the clones, and possibly animate them.

Workaround I've tried:

1- pFlow, not handy / not the actual solution I'm looking for.
2 - Railclone: the lite version works fine, but it works only with flat splines (i.e. moving the points on the z doesn't affect the duplication).
3 - Path Constraint: it's ok, but to make it work I had first to constraint the single mesh, then array it. After the last step there's no other control over the cloned meshes.
4 - Path Deform: it's the closest solution, unfortunately the mesh can get annoying distortions, haven't found a way to avoid them.