diff --git a/src/diagram/functions/toDiagramEntity.ts b/src/diagram/functions/toDiagramEntity.ts
index abb9783..ed7bc9c 100644
--- a/src/diagram/functions/toDiagramEntity.ts
+++ b/src/diagram/functions/toDiagramEntity.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import {AbstractMesh} from "@babylonjs/core";
+import {AbstractMesh, InstancedMesh} from "@babylonjs/core";
 import {DiagramEntity} from "../types/diagramEntity";
 import log from "loglevel";
 import {v4 as uuidv4} from 'uuid';
@@ -25,20 +25,44 @@ export function toDiagramEntity(mesh: AbstractMesh): DiagramEntity {
     entity.from = mesh?.metadata?.from;
     entity.to = mesh?.metadata?.to;
     entity.scale = vectoxys(mesh.scaling);
-    if (mesh.material) {
+
+    // Extract color using fallback chain for reliability
+    if (mesh.metadata?.color) {
+        // Priority 1: Explicit metadata color (most reliable)
+        entity.color = mesh.metadata.color;
+    } else if (mesh instanceof InstancedMesh && mesh.sourceMesh?.id) {
+        // Priority 2: Extract from tool mesh ID (e.g., "tool-BOX-#FF0000")
+        const toolId = mesh.sourceMesh.id;
+        const parts = toolId.split('-');
+        if (parts.length >= 3 && parts[0] === 'tool') {
+            const color = parts.slice(2).join('-'); // Handle colors with dashes
+            if (color.startsWith('#')) {
+                entity.color = color.toLowerCase(); // Normalize to lowercase
+            }
+        }
+    } else if (mesh.material) {
+        // Priority 3: Fallback to material extraction (backwards compatibility)
         switch (mesh.material.getClassName()) {
             case "StandardMaterial":
-                entity.color = (mesh.material as any).diffuseColor.toHexString();
+                const stdMat = mesh.material as any;
+                const stdColor = stdMat.emissiveColor || stdMat.diffuseColor;
+                if (stdColor) {
+                    entity.color = stdColor.toHexString()?.toLowerCase();
+                }
                 break;
             case "PBRMaterial":
-                entity.color = (mesh.material as any).albedoColor.toHexString();
+                const pbrMat = mesh.material as any;
+                const pbrColor = pbrMat.emissiveColor || pbrMat.albedoColor;
+                if (pbrColor) {
+                    entity.color = pbrColor.toHexString()?.toLowerCase();
+                }
                 break;
         }
     } else {
         if (entity.template != "#object-template") {
             logger.error("toDiagramEntity: mesh.material is null");
         }
-
     }
+
     return entity;
 }