diff --git a/libraries/metavoxels/src/MetavoxelData.cpp b/libraries/metavoxels/src/MetavoxelData.cpp
index 4dcc4bd239..de9d4c104b 100644
--- a/libraries/metavoxels/src/MetavoxelData.cpp
+++ b/libraries/metavoxels/src/MetavoxelData.cpp
@@ -1806,7 +1806,8 @@ const float DEFAULT_VOXELIZATION_GRANULARITY = powf(2.0f, -3.0f);
 Spanner::Spanner() :
     _renderer(NULL),
     _placementGranularity(DEFAULT_PLACEMENT_GRANULARITY),
-    _voxelizationGranularity(DEFAULT_VOXELIZATION_GRANULARITY) {
+    _voxelizationGranularity(DEFAULT_VOXELIZATION_GRANULARITY),
+    _merged(false) {
 }
 
 void Spanner::setBounds(const Box& bounds) {
diff --git a/libraries/metavoxels/src/MetavoxelData.h b/libraries/metavoxels/src/MetavoxelData.h
index 5dc1a8e7c2..5033d116b0 100644
--- a/libraries/metavoxels/src/MetavoxelData.h
+++ b/libraries/metavoxels/src/MetavoxelData.h
@@ -549,6 +549,9 @@ public:
     void setVoxelizationGranularity(float granularity) { _voxelizationGranularity = granularity; }
     float getVoxelizationGranularity() const { return _voxelizationGranularity; }
     
+    void setMerged(bool merged) { _merged = merged; }
+    bool isMerged() const { return _merged; }
+    
     /// Checks whether we've visited this object on the current traversal.  If we have, returns false.
     /// If we haven't, sets the last visit identifier and returns true.
     bool testAndSetVisited(int visit);
@@ -597,6 +600,7 @@ private:
     Box _bounds;
     float _placementGranularity;
     float _voxelizationGranularity;
+    bool _merged;
     QHash<QThread*, int> _lastVisits; ///< last visit identifiers for each thread
     QMutex _lastVisitsMutex;