APS Stechkin - Автоматический Пистолет Стечкина

The Stechkin APS (Автоматический Пистолет Стечкина) is a Soviet select-fire machine pistol. It was designed between 1948 and 1949 by Igor Stechkin based on a request from the Soviet Army for a new compact defensive weapon, primarily to be used by vehicle and artillery crews. The APS was first issued in 1951 and was praised for its innovate design and relatively good controllability for a machine pistol, but was also derided for its heavy weight, limited effective range, high cost, and poor ergonomics, especially when fitted with the stock. The APS would eventually be phased out of service in favor of the AKS-74U compact carbine.
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Hand Mesh + Rig made by Foridex
https://www.artstation.com/foridex
Also special thanks to Gabriel from Wardog for the epic reference images, couldn't have matched the magazine-well-area without them! :)
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With this project I wanted to get to know the Remesh workflow within Blender, which — in theory — poses as a free alternative to the common zBrush polish workflow. In practice, it works pretty well, although at some point parts need to be split into separate files, as Blender grinds down to a halt after exceeding a certain amount of vertices within a scene. Decimating only helps to a degree, as the calculations can take ages and artifacts can make the shading look awful. Still, a good technique that comes in handy when used here and there! I also focussed more geometry detail on potential areas that would be visible during aiming or inspection animations, especially for smaller parts on the side of the weapon that would stand out to the player — basically areas of attention that draw the eye (e.g. the fire selector switch, the trigger, little screws on the side...).
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Modelled in Blender (Mix of SubD and Remesh workflow)
Textured with Substance Painter
Rendered using Cycles (stills) and Eevee (anims)
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The APS comes in at a total of 18,931 vertices and sits at an average Texel Density of 118 px/cm.