The glows are not the same as lens flares. Different phenomenon.
True. Coding-wise, they get handled the same though.
Having said that, lens flares look cool and are easy to code. Keep 'em.
The bit that wasn't so easy was finding a way to get the colour of the lightsource for when there's a stained glass between you and the sun. I'm rather proud of that little trick --and amazed it didn't gobble up more performance.
Actually I think realism is overrated. I want my projects to look like works of art! ...I absolutely *love* the look of that "Black Light" demo by Big&. Perfect example of how realism comes a distant second place to sheer beauty.