By: chorne (founder of Filta)

People often ask - “Why is Filta built on top of Unity?” The primary reasons are:

1. It’s a top-tier 3D engine with AMAZING tools for artists
2. I’m morally ok with telling artists to learn Unity because it’s used across games/movies/AR/VR. If you decide to never use Filta again - at least you’ve learned a skill that is useful in other high-demand and well-paying industries!
3. Many other applications are being built on top of Unity (Rec Room, Horizon, VRChat, etc.) so it will be much easier for us to bring Filta assets into those platforms for your avatars to wear.

All 3 of those reasons obviously rule out platforms like Snap AR / Spark AR (iykyk). However, they don’t rule out things like Unreal Engine / ThreeJS.

So why not Unreal Engine?

1. Speaking from ~4 years of experience: It’s VERY difficult to build anything other than a first-person shooter or a movie in Unreal. However it’s a fantastic engine and I have nothing but love for Epic Games/UE.
2. That’s basically it.

Why not ThreeJS?

1. Performance. I’m not convinced ThreeJS will ever have the same quality of Unity/Unreal at an equal framerate. We want Filtas to be the highest quality pieces of digital fashion you can possibly wear....which demands superior performance.
2. Talent. Very few software engineers have 3D experience and javascript experience. Building an amazing team would be borderline impossible and we would never get the platform off the ground.