Challenge 2: A Red Material Still Appearing Gray in the Viewport — Solution Walkthrough

The answer:

Per this chapter's own warning box, this is very likely because the
viewport is still in Solid shading mode, which ignores material
properties almost entirely, showing either a flat default gray or a
simplified per-object viewport color regardless of what material is
actually assigned.

Why the student's conclusion is likely wrong:

The student assumed the gray appearance meant the material assignment
failed, but Solid mode simply doesn't display real material properties
at all — the red material could be assigned perfectly correctly and
still appear gray in this specific viewport mode, since Solid mode was
never showing material color to begin with.

What would confirm whether the material actually worked:

Switching the viewport to Material Preview or Rendered mode would
reveal the material's own actual appearance, including its real Base
Color. If the object still doesn't appear red in one of those modes,
that would be the point to actually suspect a real assignment problem
— not while still checking in Solid mode.

WHY THIS WORKS AS AN ANSWER
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This exercise checks that an apparently "failed" material assignment
is correctly diagnosed as a Solid-mode viewing limitation first, before
assuming the material itself is broken.