Transitioning the overlap of multiple objects I'm trying to fade an object's regular solid surface into its wireframe.

I've got as far as duplicating the object and deleting vertices until I'm left with an area of overlap.



Is it possible to render this in such a way that there is a smooth transition at the area of overlap? Maybe there is a better way to achieve this effect?

Another example:
According to what you illustrated, I would propose a non-compositing way by using modifiers only:


Enter Edit Mode, Select one face as where the transition starts, ShiftS > Cursor to Selected to snap cursor to that face;
Select all faces, press Spacebar and search for Sort Mesh Elements, choose Cursor Distance in the popup menu, press F6 and toggle Reverse;
Create a duplication for the original object, repeat the last two steps on it, just leave Reverse untoggled;
Add Build modifier to the original object, toggle Reverse in the modifier stack;
Add a Wireframe modifier and a Build modifier to the duplicated object, leave Reverse untoggled this time.


After tweaking the modifier settings a bit, you will simply get something like this when playing animation:



Example file FYI.