Terrain analyzer doesn't work

[Tungsten Whitmarsh Cadow]

I start with one full canister in my backpack, but I empty it by building terrain until I hear the sound cue that its empty. I then fill the canister with blue dirt until its full with the terrain analyzer off because it doesn't gather anything while on. I then try to lay down that color using alt key and it comes out gray instead of the blue that I wanted.

I also tried this method with the terrain analyzer on and I could see blue particles being sucked into the digging tool but nothing ever happened. I could still only lay down gray terrain. I don't think the canister ever got full even after maybe 2 minutes of sucking. Why would a game want you to stand there so long sucking? Makes no sense to me. Its supremely boring to see particles come off a wall but the wall doesn't deform.

[Tungsten Whitmarsh Cadow]

I got it working. Apparantly I had a speck of some color in there (it might even have been the original gray) and it wouldn't suck anything. I had to go all the way back to base and make a new canister and new terrain analyzer and then go suck it up and it didn't take long. I had a new color. I guess it might be useful for marking the right path to take or writing on a surface although its bizarre how much power it uses. You almost have to be attached to a rover or keep a generator running.

It only took me eight years to get a pieces of terrain colored the color I wanted because I've tried before and never got anything to work.

[Philtre]

The canister only holds dirt, it doesn't have anything to do with the color. You can fill a blank terrain analyzer without a canister.

You need to dig up soil of the color you want with a fresh, blank terrain analyzer (make sure it is on), until the bar on the terrain analyzer is fully-activated, then it is ready to use for coloring. Once you have started a terrain analyzer on a certain color, it will only keep filling if you target the same shade of dirt.