Want to see through an object while you model, without the outer layers getting in the way? There is a clean per-object way to do it in the Solid viewport, and it is not the X-ray button.
Editor's note (July 2026): This technique still works the same in current Blender (4.x and 5.x). The Material Properties Viewport Display color and its Alpha slider are unchanged, and X-ray is still Alt+Z. This is a workflow tip from the "Learning Blender after SketchUp" series; if you are new, Part 1 is the place to start.
In Solid viewport mode, select the object's material, open Material Properties, and scroll down to the Viewport Display panel. Open its color picker and drop the Alpha value: 0 is fully transparent, 1 is fully opaque. That makes just that object see-through in the viewport, unlike X-ray, which affects the whole scene. It only shows in Solid mode, and you are limited to simple flat colors.
Viewport Display, drop the Alpha. Per object.I ran into this making my Cubeception model, a build with a lot of nested layers. I wanted to see the lower layers while working on them, without the outer layers getting in the way. Just hiding the outer layers would have thrown off my sense of where everything sat, so transparency was the answer.
The obvious tool is X-ray, and it is great for selecting geometry on the far side of an object without spinning your view around. The catch is that X-ray applies to everything in the scene at once, which makes it awkward on a complex model where you only want one part transparent. There is a better, per-object way.
With the viewport in Solid mode and the object's material selected, open Material Properties and scroll past the Preview and Surface sections to the Viewport Display panel. Click its color swatch. Whichever color system you use, they all have an Alpha option.
Adjusting Alpha sets the opacity: 0 is completely transparent, 1 is completely opaque. That is the whole trick, no shader nodes and no lighting setup. And because it is per material, only the objects using that material go see-through, not the entire scene. You can even grab a quick flat render of the result with View then Viewport Render Image.
This is a Solid-mode trick, and it helps to know why. The Viewport Display color and opacity were, I am fairly sure, originally meant for color-coding and organizing the assets in a scene, which is why you are limited to simple flat colors here rather than full PBR textures.
On Cubeception I gave three materials the same color but different alpha values, which let me keep track of every layer without any of them blocking the view. But the use I keep coming back to, with my civil-engineering background, is architectural. If you have a model where you want to see the interior, make a wall or a roof transparent to look inside, or simply to mimic windows.
In Solid mode, select the object's material, open Material Properties, and scroll to the Viewport Display panel. Click its color swatch and lower the Alpha value: 0 is fully transparent, 1 is fully opaque. It affects only objects using that material.
X-ray makes the whole scene see-through at once, which is handy for selecting hidden geometry but messy on a complex model. The Viewport Display Alpha is per material, so only the objects you choose become transparent while everything else stays solid.
The Viewport Display color and opacity only apply in Solid mode. In Material Preview or Render Preview you need real materials with actual alpha, because those modes render the surface shading instead of the flat display color.
Yes. Give the roof or wall its own material and lower that material's Viewport Display Alpha in Solid mode. The rest of the model stays solid, so you get a clean cutaway view of the interior space.
No. It is a Solid-mode modeling aid limited to flat colors. For a real transparent look in a render, use proper materials in Material Preview or Render Preview, where you control alpha through the shader.
Remember the one rule: this is for Solid viewport mode only. For sophisticated, render-ready transparency you still need the full material system. But as a modeling aid, being able to make any single object see-through, without X-raying the whole scene, is one of those small features that quietly improves how you work.
That wraps this run of Blender tips. If you jumped in here, the full Learning Blender after SketchUp series starts from the very basics of navigation and builds up from there.
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