Modify an Object's Color
Windows only

by Dale Fugier (Last updated:  Wednesday, December 5, 2018)

Overview

The color used to display an object is specified in one of four ways…

  1. ON::color_from_layer - the object’s layer color, ON_Layer::Color(), determines the object’s color. This is the default method used when adding new objects to Rhino
  2. ON::color_from_object - the value of an object’s m_color attribute determines the object’s color.
  3. ON::color_from_material - the diffuse color of the object’s render material determines the object’s color.
  4. ON::color_from_parent - if the object is part of an instance reference, the color is taken from the instance

Sample

The following code sample demonstrates how to override the default “color by layer” behavior and set an object to use “color by object.”

CRhinoCommand::result CCommandTest::RunCommand(const CRhinoCommandContext& context)
{
  CRhinoGetObject go;
  go.SetCommandPrompt( L"Select object" );
  go.GetObjects( 1, 1 );
  if( go.CommandResult() != CRhinoCommand::success )
    return go.CommandResult();

  const CRhinoObjRef& obj_ref = go.Object( 0 );
  const CRhinoObject* obj = obj_ref.Object();
  if( !obj )
    return CRhinoCommand::failure;

  ON_Color old_color = obj->Attributes().DrawColor();
  ON::object_color_source color_source = obj->Attributes().ColorSource();
  ON_Color new_color( old_color );

  if( !RhinoColorDialog( ::RhinoApp().MainWnd(), new_color) )
    return CRhinoCommand::cancel;

  if( new_color == old_color )
    return CRhinoCommand::nothing;

  CRhinoObjectAttributes att( obj->Attributes() );
  att.m_color = new_color;
  att.SetColorSource( ON::color_from_object );
  context.m_doc.ModifyObjectAttributes( obj_ref, att );
  context.m_doc.Redraw();
  return CRhinoCommand::success;
}

When adding new objects using the C/C++ SDK, you can specify the attributes of the object when adding it to Rhino. Thus, if you want to override the default color behavior for new objects, just get a copy of the active document’s default new object attributes, modify it in whatever way you want, and pass it (along with the geometry) to the appropriate object creation function…

CRhinoCommand::result CCommandTest::RunCommand(const CRhinoCommandContext& context)
{
  ON_Circle circle;
  circle.Create( RhinoActiveCPlane(), 5.0 );
  ON_3dmObjectAttributes att;
  context.m_doc.GetDefaultObjectAttributes( att );

  att.m_color = RGB(255,191,191);
  att.SetColorSource( ON::color_from_object );
  context.m_doc.AddCurveObject( circle, &att );
  context.m_doc.Redraw();
  return CRhinoCommand::success;
}