3d Model Over/On Top of a Panel

Alright, I've looked through the manual, I've searched the forums, but this is starting to become a pain.

I can't figure out if it's even possible to have a model displayed over a panel.

I had my player models show up and rotate upon selection, but have since changed my menu system a bit to have strictly full screen panels instead of a level loaded in the background. So now I can't seem to figure out if it's possible to have the player models show up on top of the panels that are obviously covering them up. I really don't want to have overlay turned on and have a chunk of the menu missing just to display them in the background.

So my question is, is there any way to set a models layer level higher than that of the panels, or something to that effect? Probably a stupid question, but I can't seem to figure it out at all.

Maybe view_entity, its often used to display player weapons with hands.

A user perhaps 2years ago did something similar but with a 3D compass.
Don't know if its still in archives or not but if you have searched then I suppose it may have been from an earlier time.

Read in the future section...
Panels behind the scene (level) will be in A7
For now... mission impossible... with 2D panels

you could render it in a different view, and give this view a higher layer then the panels have.

I've never tried it, but maybe..


nipx

View entities render over panels. However, they do have some limitations and aren't exactly the same as level entities.