Boolean Subtract Over Two Distinct Layers

[JBrondos (Joel Brondos)]

I know this has been dealt with earlier (e.g. Mar 26, 2024 - “Boolean subtract changes layer color”), but I want to give one more example to see if anything can be done or if it might be a feature request.

I am making some 1911 pistol grips. I want the “engraved” pattern on the grip to be composed of a Line layer at a 30-degree angle to a Fill layer.

I arrange the pattern and want to cut the pistol grip pattern out of it, but when I set the pistol grip outline into the pattern and attempt a Boolean subtract, it changes the entire pattern design to Fill instead of keeping Line and Fill layers separate.

I suppose I could cut the grip outline out of one pattern, then cut it out of the other pattern, and finally center arrange them one over the other, but it might be nice for future projects if Boolean functions could “keep track” of layers by keeping them distinct even though they are grouped.

I know. It’s probably another one of my requests in which attempts to program such a thing are not worth the hours of bench time . . .

[JBrondos (Joel Brondos)]

“Workaround”

1. I selected the shape to be cut and duplicated it (CTRL-D)
2. I selected the blue pattern and clicked on the shape to be cut (in this case, I think I used the Boolean union, whatever looked good on the CTRL-B Boolean assist menu.
3. Then, the shape to be cut remained after being duplicated. I selected the red pattern and performed the same Boolean operation.
4. It worked, looking like this: