When working in Editable poly in vertex sub-object mode vertex color data is lost if you do CTRL+A or “Select All” from the menu to select all vertices. The vertices will be reset to black vertex colors.

Vertex color data is also lost from the mesh if you switch back and forth between vertex sub object mode and other sub object modes, while having multi-colored vertices selected.

This is super destructive for game art that relies on vertex colors for a multitude of things, not just coloring but masking in shaders, ambient occlusion, transparency and texture blends. A serious enough bug that I would not go to production on 3dsmax 10, and it’s still here after Service Pack 1…

Select all destroys vertex colors:

Reproduceable

1. Create a Teapot
2. In properties enable vertex channel display: vertex colors
3. Go to vertex sub object mode
4. Select some vertices and assign them a red color
5. Press ctrl+a or “select all” from the menu
6. All vertices will turn black - cannot be undone or recovered

When multiple different colored vertices are selected switching sub object mode destroys the vertex colors:

Reproduceable

1. Create a Teapot
2. In properties enable vertex channel display: vertex colors
3. Go to vertex sub object mode
4. Select some vertices and assign them a red color
5. Select some other vertices and assign them a green color
6. Select some green and some red vertices
7. Press “4” to switch to poly mode
8. Press “1” to switch back to vertex mode.
9. Selected vertices will turn black.

Did you notice that there are new Max 2010 fixes out exactly today ?

Vertex Color Data loss should be fixed according to the readme....

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Free Tools (Scriptspot):
PowerPreview:  Quality Previews from Nitrous Viewports - Download
DarkScintilla:  dark Color Scheme for the Maxscript Editor - Download
PowerSwitcher: Enhanced Viewport Switching in 3ds Max - Download
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Home of The Frogs | Online Portfolio

yeah - they seemed to have pulled the hotfix because of some incompatibilities in an unimportant component, look in Ken’s Blog for details…

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Free Tools (Scriptspot):
PowerPreview:  Quality Previews from Nitrous Viewports - Download
DarkScintilla:  dark Color Scheme for the Maxscript Editor - Download
PowerSwitcher: Enhanced Viewport Switching in 3ds Max - Download
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Home of The Frogs | Online Portfolio

Hello,

I face exactly the same problem, and it is very very annoying :S

Nevertheless the problem is not obvious: here it appends on some computers, not on some others.
We are on Windows XP 32bits, all configs are the same: Dell Precision T3400 Quad CPU, 2.39 GHz, with NVidia GeForce 8800 GTX.

At first I supposed it could come from the SP1, because one of the artists doesn’t have the problem and we saw he doesn’t have the SP1 installed (yet...). So I installed 3dsMax 2010 on a new computer, without SP1. At fist I had black vertices, and after a few basic manipulations I don’t have it anymore, no matter what I do.
The strange thing is I still have it on mine, no matter what I do too…

I provide a small max file to easily reproduce the bug.

Is there really a hotfix for that? Do you have a link?

Thx,

Werwack

Ok, after omre investigation, and thanks to this thread it appears it is really a Graphite bug.

So here are 2 ways not to have the problem:

- Put the Graphite Modeling Tools ribbon to Minimize to Panel Titles (the intermediate minimize state - right click on the toolbar arrow to get it)

- Completely close the Graphite Modeling Toolbar

Ok, I know this sound strange because when you play with vertex colors, you would usually also play with the topology, so with Graphite… :S

A fix would be really appreciated…

Taps foot impatiently!

I’m pulling my hair out over that bug as we speak. Its incredibly annoying.
Apparently, max incorrectly resets the vertexcolors to black (why black anyway??) as soon as you make a selection that contains vertices with different color info. And the freakin thing can’t be undone either (so, obviously a bug).

/eX

This bug appears to be fixed with the latest 2010 hotfix 2009.09.22. With this and SP1 installed, I can’t reproduce the bug in either set of steps from the original post. Can anyone else confirm?

Yep, I confirm. On my side it seems also fixed with the hot (and late) fix pack.

Bug still present on my side after sp1 and hotfix installation. Procedures described in attached documentation are working fine now, but remains other cases of vertex colors failure. Note that it’s affecting object with ‘vertex alpha’ channels in my case.

- Right-Click / Object Properties / tick Vertex Channel Display / choose Vertex Alpha.
- In Modifer Tab, enable Polygon Selection.
- Vertex Alpha is now reset to some color.

Only half of the machines are impacted by the bug: we’re hiding the Graphite toolBar as a workaround when using them.

http://area.autodesk.com/for...etex-color-bug/page-last/

Check my post here, see if this helps...?
cheers
Ivon