Yay for Googling after posting questions... sorry. For those having the same problem; It's a Max Design thing, it sets new object creation (therefore object colouring too) by layer rather than by object. The prefs has an option to assign by object and not by layer.
Hey all, I have what appears to be a basic, but somewhat annoying issue with Max 2011. I just built a new PC and downloaded Max Design 2011 through the AD student program (I'm an Architecture student, and had used up my activations of the 'non-Design' version). I usually use the 'Assign random colours to new objects' thing…