diff --git a/libraries/animation/src/RotationAccumulator.cpp b/libraries/animation/src/RotationAccumulator.cpp
index fccb63fa35..b3ec790d20 100644
--- a/libraries/animation/src/RotationAccumulator.cpp
+++ b/libraries/animation/src/RotationAccumulator.cpp
@@ -12,14 +12,12 @@
 #include <glm/gtx/quaternion.hpp>
 
 void RotationAccumulator::add(glm::quat rotation) {
-    if (_numRotations == 0) {
-        _rotationSum = rotation;
-    } else {
-        if (glm::dot(_rotationSum, rotation) < 0.0f) {
-            rotation = -rotation;
-        }
-        _rotationSum += rotation;
+    // make sure both quaternions are on the same hyper-hemisphere before we add them
+    if (glm::dot(_rotationSum, rotation) < 0.0f) {
+        rotation = -rotation;
     }
+    // sum the rotation linearly (lerp)
+    _rotationSum += rotation;
     ++_numRotations;
 }
 
diff --git a/libraries/animation/src/RotationAccumulator.h b/libraries/animation/src/RotationAccumulator.h
index 500f554271..bb30c14363 100644
--- a/libraries/animation/src/RotationAccumulator.h
+++ b/libraries/animation/src/RotationAccumulator.h
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@
 
 class RotationAccumulator {
 public:
+    RotationAccumulator() : _rotationSum(0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f), _numRotations(0) { }
+
     int size() const { return _numRotations; }
 
     void add(glm::quat rotation);
@@ -24,7 +26,7 @@ public:
 
 private:
     glm::quat _rotationSum;
-    int _numRotations = 0;
+    int _numRotations;
 };
 
 #endif // hifi_RotationAccumulator_h