Hi! i need to model for the game engine a plate like this:
http://www.int3d.com/3dmodels/i90002.html
I modelled it using spin and it’s ok, but i need to give it some color, i vertex painted it in yellow but when i start the engine the plate looks just like a yellow circle, nothing else, it doesn’t look like a plate, just a circle on the table. I have to use radiosity in my scene and I leave the plate out when i collect the meshes for the radiosity so I think that the plate has no light and that’s the problem but i added a normal light near the plate and it looks exaclty the same. When i U/V map a texture instead of using vertex paint the result is the same: just a circle of the color of the texture. 
enter face mode select all faces press w then select light
lamp has to be in the same layer as the plate, select the plate’s mesh
press F then W >set light. 
or you could take a picture of a real plate with shading and use it to texture your plate without using lamps.
vertex painting is just like pregular painting, if you dont use different shades of the same color you won’t see much depth.
But i’m using a light with a high energy and distance and it’s like nothing.
The normal lights work when you use radiosity? what i did was:
Select the plate, F, W, Set Light and when i collect the meshes for the radiosity i leave the plate out, and that’s all? there must be something missing 
i see no light :-? and no light effects, just like if the light wasnt in the room, but it is!!! should the plate reflect some light?? how do you see the efects of the light???
is it on the same layer? can u post a blend?
The light worked!!! BUT i still have no depth in my plate, the effect of the light is just a little stain or blot or smudge somewhere in the plate but it doesn’t give any depth sensation now it looks like a circle with a stain.
If i use U/V map i have the same problem, i think i have to map 3 different textures to give some depth sensation but that’s why i think it’s better to vertex paint it, is there a way to do this???