---
title: "Vertex Attribute"
url: "https://help.maxon.net/r3d/houdini/en-us/Content/html/Vertex%2BAttribute.html"
section_path: "Shaders > Attributes Shaders > Vertex Attribute"
description: "This shader gives you access to color and scalar per-vertex attributes. This can be used as an alternative to the more flexible Color User Data and Scalar …"
---

# Vertex Attribute

You are here:

# Vertex Attribute

## Introduction

This shader gives you access to color and scalar per-vertex attributes. This can be used as an alternative to the more flexible [Color User Data](https://help.maxon.net/r3d/houdini/en-us/Content/html/Color%2BUser%2BData.html.md) and [Scalar User Data](https://help.maxon.net/r3d/houdini/en-us/Content/html/Scalar%2BUser%2BData.html.md) nodes, which can access point, object *and* vertex attributes.

Redshift 2025.4 and newer support color and scalar per-vertex attributes on hair primitives. These attributes are automatically extracted and made available in shaders using the Vertex Attribute node.

|  |
| --- |
| ![Image: H_PerVertex_Attr_UI.png](https://help.maxon.net/r3d/houdini/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/H_PerVertex_Attr_UI.png) |

## Parameters

|  |
| --- |
| ![Image: image2017-7-20_16-53-286f3e.png](https://help.maxon.net/r3d/houdini/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/image2017-7-20_16-53-286f3e.png) |

### Attribute Name

This is the name of the vertex attribute that will be read.

### Default Color

This is the color that will be output if the attribute is not found.

### Default Scalar

This is the scalar that will be output if the attribute is not found