materials.alpha not working Not seeing anything different on the screen when setting the alpha property.
Any clues?

def color(name, diffuse, specular, alpha):
    mat = bpy.data.materials.new(name)
    mat.diffuse_color = diffuse
    mat.diffuse_intensity = 1.0
    mat.specular_color = specular
    mat.alpha = alpha
    bpy.context.object.active_material = mat


act.color('Red', (1,0,0), (1,1,1), 1)
# tried 0.5, 0.25, 0.001 etc..
This solved my issue:

    mat.transparency_method = 'Z_TRANSPARENCY'        
    # need the following 2 lines for alpha to work       
    mat.use_transparency = True        
    bpy.context.object.show_transparent = True