Merge tag for folders in psd not merging shapes correctly

SilverHg

In our work, we use shapes in photoshop to create our assets. It is necessary for these assets to not be rasterized and kept as a shape. We also use the feature of photoshop shapes where the line of the base shape is maintained when there is a clipping layer on top of the shape. This issue has actually been posted here before (it's what showed up when I googled the issue), but as there was no reply in 4 years, I would like to post about it again. This issue has persisted among me and my coworkers for a while now with varying photoshop versions, but we all use Windows 11. I used Windows 10 initially and this did not happen to me. Not sure if it's relevant but I'm putting it down just in case.

1) What I have tried:
Tried both the PhotoshopToSpine script and Importing the PSD directly into Spine, same result

2) What I expected:
The images should have the lines of the shape preserved despite the clipping layer on top

3) What actually happened:
The lines were covered by the clipping layer as if the base shape was rasterized before exporting

Reproducing the problem

Setup for the images:

The base shape has a stroke setting while a shape is clipped on top of it.

Using Photoshop to Spine script

Open Photoshop
Run the script (File > Script > Browse > select PhotoshopToSpine)
Run the script with these settings
Import Data > JSON

Using Import PSD directly to Spine

Open Spine
Menu > Import PSD > Select the PSD
Import with these settings

both achieve the same result

Spine files:

PSD:

Editor information

Spine Editor version: 4.3, but this has occurred in 4.2 as well using the Photoshop to spine text

Apologies if it's not tagged or formatted correctly. I signed up just for this because it's an issue that has persisted and slowed down out workflow

Spinebot

Thank you for the detailed report! This is a known limitation related to how Spine (and the PhotoshopToSpine script) reads pixel data from PSD files.

The core issue

When Spine or the script exports layers, it reads the pixel data stored directly in the PSD file for each layer. Photoshop shape strokes and the way clipping masks interact with vector shape outlines are rendered by Photoshop at display time — they are not stored as flattened pixel data in the individual layer. This means the exported result won't match what you see on screen in Photoshop.

This is the same category of limitation as layer styles, gradient masks, and adjustment layers — Spine can only import pixel data per layer, not Photoshop's composited/rendered result.

Workaround options

The recommended workarounds for this type of issue are:

Convert to Smart Objects: Select the group/layers involved and convert them to a Smart Object. Photoshop will then store the flattened pixel result of the composite (including the stroke and clipping interaction) as pixel data in the PSD, which Spine can then read correctly.
Use the [merge] tag with a group: Place the base shape and its clipping layer(s) inside a group and add the [merge] tag to the group name. This causes the script to merge the layers before export. However, as noted in a related case, merging with clipping masks can sometimes produce incorrect results depending on the setup. If [merge] alone doesn't work correctly, combining it with converting to a Smart Object is worth trying.
Use the SpineCompatiblePsd script: The SpineCompatiblePsd script is designed to produce a Spine-compatible version of your PSD, flattening problematic features like this into pixel data.
Rasterize the affected layers manually: Before exporting, rasterize the layers that use shape strokes with clipping layers so the stroke is baked into the pixel data. This is a manual step but ensures the output matches what you see in Photoshop.

The most non-destructive approach that preserves your vector workflow would likely be converting the affected layer groups to Smart Objects, as that keeps the original layers intact inside the Smart Object while giving Spine correct pixel data to work with.

If none of these workarounds resolve the issue for your specific setup, you're welcome to send your PSD file to contact@esotericsoftware.com so it can be investigated more closely.

SilverHg

I see, so it's a known limitation.

We can't exactly create smart objects out of the parts as this disrupts our workflow
We do use the [merge] tag when exporting using the script, this was mentioned above (but this is a bot response so understandable)
We've tried using the SpineCompatiblePsd script; however, it does nothing to the shapes when it runs.
Rasterizing each folder manually; essentially merging all the folders with the [merge] tag ourselves, would be tedious and takes too long for every export we do so this isn't viable

But since this is just a limitation of photoshop, I guess we'll have to find another solution or workaround. At the moment, our current solution is just to export the affected pngs individually which causes some human error if the affected asset isn't spotted early on.

Misaki

SilverHg Indeed, it seems that using SpineCompatiblePsd.jsx doesn't work in this case. Since there appears to be room for improvement here, we'll update this script to see if we can make it work when shapes are combined using clipping masks.

SilverHg

Great to hear! It would definitely help us a lot. Thank you!