dont know mate.., im watching a tut about 3D sets.. so i cant check., but im not dealing with 'objects' just sprites at this stage, so im not sure if it works the same.., the colour attributes window that opens with shaders.., with,

colour
transparency
incandesance

ect

in the AE.., no, it wont work from there.., i have tried, the sliders have no effect on sprites there.., i think there is a level of cotrol where you mean.., at colour balance, but i dont think thats what im loooking for.., ill have to watch it again.., seems the attribues have changed a lot over the last few versions of maya