Black and White only + Xray render modes

[AsOne]

I'm looking for a way to turn off colors in the model quickly.  Is there a render setting to accomplish this in Shaded Full or Shaded Work?

 

I know I can turn off Textures and I know I can export to Photoshop and desaturate my image, however I'm looking for something that delivers black and white only within the modeling window.  

 

If not, then this would be a nice render mode to have.

 

Another would be some sort of Xray mode.  Not wireframe.  Something where all the surfaces are visible, except set to 50% transparent...or some adjustable rate of transparency.  I believe AutoCAD has something like this.

 

[Tech]

Hi Paul,

 

Perhaps the easiest would be to create a Layer Group, put all Layers in this group, double click the Layer Group, and set a Material Override for the desired color.  Then you can easily turn this on or off to adjust whether or not you are showing the object colors...

 

You could also use this to apply a material with Transparency if you want.

 

Does that do what you want?

[AsOne]

Actually that works quite well.  Thanks!

 

I didn't want to regroup my existing layer groups, but if I simply put the existing groups in a parent group then I can set the parent group to be grey and/or transparent.

 

It would be nice to have a Show Color option in the Display Options for Shaded Work & Full in the future.  Plus the Xray render mode would be nice.  

 

Sometimes I need this option because it is easier to model with color, but I'm not ready to texture.  I want to view the model as more of a "massing model" or simply using it to look at the qualities of the space without materials.  Sometimes even then showing this conceptual work to a client, before we apply any materials.  Also helpful for printing (paper or digital) views to draw or sketch on top of.  This is also similar to 2D work where I might draw in color for ease of viewing and organization, but print in black ink only.

[Shibui Design]

This is an area where Sketchup really excels. With a single click, one can dramatically change the appearance of the entire scene. Better yet, with the many styles available from users, it is really fast and easy to generate the types of views you describe here. FormZ is an incredibly powerful modeler, but much more value could be on the table if there were similar features to quickly and easily create such rich display styles. Hopefully some progress in this area is in the future for Z. Communicating the model is the end game after all!