Version 0.7 Last Modified 29th July 2002

Applying Vertex Colors

Both 3D Studio Max R2.5 and R3.x have a number of different ways to assign Vertex Colors.

In order to see vertex colors right click on a selected object, select "Properties", and make sure that the checkbox "vertex colors" is ticked. You will notice the models shading properties change from giving an aspect of depth to being solid white, if you mapped this object to a plain white bitmap or if you didn't export mapping coordinates when exporting your ASE, this is exactly what you would see in RV.  Not very attractive is it?

Apply some vertex colors/shading to your object, to do so you can follow any of a number of methods.

In Max R2.5 you can manually edit these colors by collapsing your objects modifier stack so that it becomes an "Editable_Mesh", this is not the same as applying an "Edit_Mesh" modifier. With "Editable_Mesh" you have control over vertex colors via Sub_Object Vertex.  Select a Vertex, and go to the bottom of the command menu, Click the upper white box, change the color to something more appealing and click OK, you should see the color on your model now, and you can continue to do things "manually" like this for your whole car or scene.

In Max R3.X manually editing vertex colors is similar but you can now do so using the Edit_Mesh modifier without collapsing the stack.

Max R3.X also has a useful "Vertex_Paint" modifier that is not available in R2.5. This modifier lets you spray paint colors onto different vertices from a color palette.

Both versions support the automatic assignment of Vertex Colors using lighting information in your scene. If you know how to place lights in Max you can use the "Assign Vertex Colors" Utility in the Utilities tab to quickly apply realistic shading to a complex landscapes and cars.

Tip: If you are creating custom instances in a scene that require solid colors, map them to a white area of your bitmap rather than leaving them unmapped, there is a bug in the .ASE export function of max which doesn't seem to be able to cope with multiple mapped and unmapped objects in the same scene. 

Notice: When weapons explode they darken the vertex color in their region and cause a 'soot' residue.

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