You can use the paint layer Opacity channel to paint a transparent effect on a mesh.
Areas that you paint now appear with a glass-like transparent effect.
To change the transparency effect from the default glass-like appearance to a more cut-away effect, change the Opacity Affects property of the material from Diffuse Only to All Channels. To open the material properties, right-click the model in the scene and select Edit Material from the pop-up menu that appears.