# Add basic coloring
**URL:** https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/add-basic-coloring/32074
**Category:** Modeling Questions
**Created:** [May 22, 2024, 1:40pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/add-basic-coloring/32074 "2024-05-22T13:40:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@RLD](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/RLD)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2024, 1:40pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/add-basic-coloring/32074/1 "2024-05-22T13:40:00Z")
From the free version of SketchUp all the way to the incredible SideFX Houdini you have the ability to add color to individual pieces.
As a non-commercial hobbyist, I find it beyond reasonable to pay $200 a year to add basic color (not materials) to my pieces.
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### Author:  [@APDesignMachine](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/APDesignMachine)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2024, 6:21pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/add-basic-coloring/32074/2 "2024-05-22T18:21:52Z")
You can add color to objects or individual faces. Just select, go to visualization and select a color. It will save it in materials as the default material. I use this a lot vs selecting and applying actual materials since I rarely if ever do renderings.
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### Author:  [@TheBum](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/TheBum)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2024, 1:28am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/add-basic-coloring/32074/3 "2024-05-23T01:28:06Z")
To add to what @APDesignMachine said, any colors you apply in Visualization will carry over to Modeling, just without the texture and shadows.
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### Author:  [@Shaun](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Shaun)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2024, 2:30am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/add-basic-coloring/32074/4 "2024-05-23T02:30:30Z")
Sounds like they aren’t using the subscription version which doesn’t have visualisation, therefore no colouring.
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### Author:  [@APDesignMachine](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/APDesignMachine)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2024, 3:10am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/add-basic-coloring/32074/5 "2024-05-23T03:10:50Z")
Though the $200/yr and the ability to apply materials suggests they. I for one, when I first got Shapr sub, didn’t know about this, thought you had to only use the materials available. Took me weeks to figure that out haha
Edit, unless @RLD meant unreasonable…
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### Author:  [@Shaun](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Shaun)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2024, 3:38am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/add-basic-coloring/32074/6 "2024-05-23T03:38:18Z")
Am I remembering incorrectly that there was colouring prior to visualisation/materials added to the software?
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### Author:  [@APDesignMachine](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/APDesignMachine)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2024, 3:51am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/add-basic-coloring/32074/7 "2024-05-23T03:51:00Z")
I can’t remember, don’t think I had the program early on. But I do remember when color was introduced and it was only for paid subscription, one of the reasons I paid for it beyond having 4 projects going on in the one free haha. The way OP posed the question is a bit confusing.
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### Author:  [@TigerMike](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/TigerMike)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2024, 4:33am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/add-basic-coloring/32074/8 "2024-05-23T04:33:49Z")
Yes, there was a color pop up before Visualization. Now it’s a subset of Visualization. Here’s pretty much what it looked like.
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### Author:  [@RLD](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/RLD)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2024, 7:25pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/add-basic-coloring/32074/9 "2024-05-25T19:25:36Z")
Thanks for all the replies.
As a hobbyist without and endless wallet, I’ll be spending my time with SketchUp as they don’t see fit to charge you for something so trivial. And eventually they’ll get my money when I transition into full time woodworking.
As TigerMike said, the ability WAS in the app.
But they stripped it out and put it behind a pay wall. That’s too shady for me.
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### Author:  [@TigerMike](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/TigerMike)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2024, 7:44pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/add-basic-coloring/32074/10 "2024-05-25T19:44:40Z")
Let me clarify. Yes, the basic color pop-up, as shown in my previous post, was available prior to Visualization. Even then, it was not available in the Free Version of the App. It was only available with the paid version.
Once Visualization came on board, the color pop-up became part of it.
@Shaun, another factoid is that the early color pop-up was floating and not fixed on the iPad screen. One could move the pop-up around to suit.
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### Author:  [@BKE](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/BKE)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2024, 9:09pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/add-basic-coloring/32074/11 "2024-05-25T21:09:36Z")
Still, what I miss most from an earlier version. It was so _fast_ to work with! No round-robin with endless trials.
> [@Please separate the color function out of visualization](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/please-separate-the-color-function-out-of-visualization/18242):
>
> The visualization function drops the FPS significantly on my M1 iPad pro and M1 imac, and all the line borders are disappeared, it makes me quite painful when colorizing my models and especially for the tiny parts and complex shapes. Please makes the color function stand-alone like it was before.
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### Author:  [@TheBum](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/TheBum)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2024, 11:03pm UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/add-basic-coloring/32074/12 "2024-05-25T23:03:12Z")
SketchUp is fine as long as you don’t care about importing your designs into Shapr and modifying them at a later date. That’s because ShetchUp works in meshes, not solid bodies. IMO, FreeCAD would be a better choice.