Applying vertex color to a selection/model

I would like to apply some vertex color for a selection from edit mode or a whole model, is this possible? I’m doing this so that I can bring it into xNormal and bake the colors to a texture as Blenders color bake won’t line up with xNormals AO and normal bake. Do anyone know how to do this without having to paint all of the mesh? Alternatively I could do with some way to turn off culling (or whatever it’s called) so that if I were to paint a sphere it would color two sides of it.

Also, do anyone know if .OBJ format stores vertex colors?

While I’m at it: Is there any way to export a UV unwrap so that it looks like it did when you exported from Blender 2.49 and below (IOW without the oh so horrible transparent white color)?

Is this possible?

Also I’m using Blender 2.5!

Yes, this is possible! I just discovered this myself after fruitlessly searching for something like this for a few days.

The option is called “Face Selection Mask”. Basically, with it enabled, you only apply color to the faces you have selected in edit mode. :yes: When you’re in Vertex Paint mode, it’s in the 3D window header, right next to the Viewport Shading button. It also works with the “Set Vertex Colors” option (3d header - Paint - Set Vertex Colors) - that lets you to paint the whole mesh or selection into a single color with one click.

2.49 has some extra scripts that could be useful. One copies a texture to vertex colors (requires uv mapping), another bakes AO into vertex colors.
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Extensions:2.4/Py/Scripts/Vertex_Paint