You won't get in trouble for uploading copyrighted content to the workshop. Using those assets in monetized / commercial animations is where problems could arise.

Playing around with and understanding the software doesn't mean much until you've put it into practice. I'd strongly suggest making some short animations / films of your own and uploading them, otherwise no one has any idea what your skill level is and is unlikely to consider collaborating with you. ;)

There's already the SFM Workshop and Garry's Mod archives for assets, maps and scripts.

Yeah, I find the greenscreen method is the quickest and easiest way, and gives full control over the mirror effect. Quick comp to show how I achieved it in on of my films: =)

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16065019/SFM/Max%20Payne/WIP/Fake%20Mirror%20Comp.jpg

It looks like Valve used the 'hole in the wall' trick.

Of course, this is entirely up to whether you feel you need it personally. If you're willing to spend some extra time animating by hand, then you can save yourself some money. If you have a lot of projects that need to be finished in a certain time-frame, then mocap may be useful.

I've used it in every animation I've worked on since getting a Kinect. It's so quick and easy and gives great results. Of course, there is still a lot of animation that needs to be fixed / created by hand after, but it definitely cuts production times down.

Certain custom models out there with biped_skeletons are not rigged either, which makes hand-animating difficult; but they can often be mocapped with ease.

Some quick samples that I've used it for;

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16065019/SFM/Max%20Payne/WIP/Videos/MoSwat.gif

http://youtu.be/_2Ome3sFZDw?t=21s

I'm sure someone will make a HWM Slider version soon enough. This would require recompiling the model and creating custom facial flexes though. ;)

Good to hear! =)

Try opening the console (~ key) and typing 'mat_reloadallmaterials'. Let it load for a few seconds and then move the camera / work camera so the scene refreshes. This usually fixes specular issues. ;)

Fantastic work Jimbo! A very helpful model and the community will really appreciate this. =D

Put this together in just over a day. =)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3pQi09ANH0