3 - Shading is done by scaling. No prob on OpenGL, but you need good scaling support on XRender (for nvidia try -a "InitialPixmapPlacement=2", makes pixmap allocation slow :-(
5 - The window shade animation is not really great, but atm. i don't see a better solution
7 - DISABLE THE DEFAULT FADE PLUGIN!
8 Fading + Moving = Flicker.
9 This plugin ships it's own to fade everything that's not moved around.
11 - I also recommand to not use the other "minimize", "magiclamp", "scale in", etc. FX (unless you opt. the regarding animation out here) - or just check what works together :-)
15 You may now find the Beclock Kwin effect by navigating to System Settings > Desktop > Desktop Effects