A cheat way to fix this problem is to select the meshes you want to UVS to be together and export them as an .obj and re-import it back into Maya, it fixed it for me. Hope it helps
ive found in these max special situations - simple exporting the model as an obj then reimporting into a new file can fix the situation --- equally putting a reset xform on there then collapsing the stack
Oh well I've found a way, stupid really should've thought about it sooner. Exported the mesh as an .obj then imported it back in. Works fine. Please ignore this stupidity.
Obj supports vertex colours, not sure if the maya exporter does though, maybe try updating it if it doesn't. FBX should support it to, but again I've never tried with maya.
made a new cog today. looks better: also did a render of the hipoly. lol here is the obj if anyone wants to see it. http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/93793/cog.obj
Smirnoffka: You can get the basic .obj file here (Right-click and "Save As"). From that you should be able to export your own UV templates to paint on.
ya, I would say export as OBJ and reimport. Might just be that the max file is fucked and is causing those issues. I've had problems somewhat like that before.