How to make an object transparent in the viewport?

Question

I would like to make one of my objects transparent in the 3D Viewport. When I look around I get tons of answers - all different, and some of them a lot more complicated than others and also older from versions of Blender. I can't get any of them to work. I just want the simplest way to make anything transparent; like descreasing the alpha channel or checking an x-ray parameter or something like that. Any ideas?

I tried bpy.context.active_object.show_transparent=True but I'm sure what it does, but it seems like what I want.

Here are some of the links I found:

Blender view-port transparent objects How to This illustrates the effect I would like and it is only a few simple commands, but I can't find the functionality he describes.
Show transparent viewport image (via script) - Very complicated and incomplete
https://www.katsbits.com/tutorials/blender/scene-view-alpha-transparency.php - Very long and comprehensive.
Material Opacity in viewport? - Just what I want, but I can't find the functions.
I also think I read something about an x-ray setting. But this might have been an addon. But that would be fine for my purpose.

Might be a good idea to add some reference images of what you call "transparent" and the links to the answers that weren't helpful... — brockmann, Dec 08 '20 at 13:42
You are talking about the solid view, not material preview or rendering, right ? — Gorgious, Dec 08 '20 at 14:57
Better! Related: Code to toggle viewport display material alpha I'd recommend do what ever you want to to in the GUI first, then find a way doing it with python. — brockmann, Dec 08 '20 at 19:44
but you also have to set viewport shading to "object" (@brockmann) — lemon, Dec 08 '20 at 19:48
Eurika! I have an image so that I can answer my own question. — DrDress, Dec 08 '20 at 19:49
@brockmann, yes solid then in viewport shading, select "object" (if object color has transparency in its viewport display) — lemon, Dec 08 '20 at 20:00
@brockmann I'm talking about solid view. I think your link is the same as what I stumble upon. Also it's a good tip to try the GUI first and see the python command below. Thanks a lot! — DrDress, Dec 08 '20 at 21:33

score 2 · Answer 1 · edited Dec 09 '20 at 10:54

2

One option is to set the alpha value (fourth component) of Material.diffuse_color:

float array of 4 items in [0, inf], default (0.8, 0.8, 0.8, 0.8)

import bpy
Get the object in context
obj = bpy.context.object
Get the active material
mat = obj.active_material
Set the alpha value of the diffuse color
mat.diffuse_color = (0.0 , 0.0 , 1.0 , 0.7)

edited Dec 09 '20 at 10:54

brockmann

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answered Dec 09 '20 at 10:03

DrDress

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How to make an object transparent in the viewport?

1 Answers1

Get the object in context

Get the active material

Set the alpha value of the diffuse color