Merging two shapes without stacking

[sir-haver]

Hello everyone,

I guess it might be very simple. I would like to merge two shapes in Photoshop in a way that one doesn't stack on top of the other.
I attach a screenshot to make it easy to see. I have two rectangulars and I would like the 4 lines of each to be visible.

Thanks a lot in advance,
I appreciate your help

 

[thebestcpu]

Hi sir-haver
It is not clear about the general case your are trying to achieve yet for this specific example, you just set the blend mode to darken on the top Layer and all dark edges will show.
Hope this helps and if you need something more specific to cover more general cases it would help to be more specific of what you want to achieve.
Hope this helps
John Wheeler

 

[IamSam]

I could be wrong, but the OP is wanting his shapes to appear like this after he combines the shape layers.


But when you combine the shapes, you get this........


He wants all the lines to show up after he has combined the shape layers.

Shape layers are made up of paths. When two shape layers are overlapped, the path will still follow the outermost of the combined paths.

If you separate the paths of the shapes like this.......



Both paths are stroked when merged.

If you can select 2 (overlapping) shape layers and merge using Cmd + E, you will still have 2 different paths to work with.
If you select the top path, you can subtract the front shape....


Intersect.......


and exclude overlapping shapes.

 

[sir-haver]

Hey guys thanks a lot for your answer!
thebestcpu, darkening was exactly what I needed

have a great day guys

 

[IamSam]

I would like to merge two shapes in Photoshop in a way that one doesn't stack on top of the other.

Title of thread.......Merging two shapes without stacking

darkening was exactly what I needed

This only works if the two shape layers remain separate. It will not work if the the shape layers are merged.

By using the terminology "merge" or "merging", I guess I misunderstood the question.

Merging layers in Photoshop defined: Combines visible, linked, or adjacent layers into a single layer. The intersection of all transparent areas is retained. You can merge layers or layer groups. You can also merge adjustment or fill layers, but they can’t act as the target layer for the merge. Merging layers can help decrease your file size and make your document more manageable.