diff --git a/libraries/entities-renderer/src/RenderablePolyVoxEntityItem.cpp b/libraries/entities-renderer/src/RenderablePolyVoxEntityItem.cpp
index 1d58527427..efe284651a 100644
--- a/libraries/entities-renderer/src/RenderablePolyVoxEntityItem.cpp
+++ b/libraries/entities-renderer/src/RenderablePolyVoxEntityItem.cpp
@@ -1312,7 +1312,7 @@ void RenderablePolyVoxEntityItem::setMesh(model::MeshPointer mesh) {
         }
         _mesh = mesh;
         _meshDirty = true;
-        _meshInitialized = true;
+        _meshReady = true;
         neighborsNeedUpdate = _neighborsNeedUpdate;
         _neighborsNeedUpdate = false;
     });
@@ -1324,7 +1324,7 @@ void RenderablePolyVoxEntityItem::setMesh(model::MeshPointer mesh) {
 void RenderablePolyVoxEntityItem::computeShapeInfoWorker() {
     // this creates a collision-shape for the physics engine.  The shape comes from
     // _volData for cubic extractors and from _mesh for marching-cube extractors
-    if (!_meshInitialized) {
+    if (!_meshReady) {
         return;
     }
 
@@ -1601,15 +1601,22 @@ bool RenderablePolyVoxEntityItem::getMeshAsScriptValue(QScriptEngine *engine, QS
     MeshProxy* meshProxy = nullptr;
     glm::mat4 transform = voxelToLocalMatrix();
     withReadLock([&] {
-        if (_meshInitialized) {
+        gpu::BufferView::Index numVertices = (gpu::BufferView::Index)_mesh->getNumVertices();
+        if (!_meshReady) {
+            // we aren't ready to return a mesh.  the caller will have to try again later.
+            success = false;
+        } else if (numVertices == 0) {
+            // we are ready, but there are no triangles in the mesh.
+            success = true;
+        } else {
             success = true;
             // the mesh will be in voxel-space.  transform it into object-space
             meshProxy = new MeshProxy(
                 _mesh->map([=](glm::vec3 position){ return glm::vec3(transform * glm::vec4(position, 1.0f)); },
                            [=](glm::vec3 normal){ return glm::vec3(transform * glm::vec4(normal, 0.0f)); },
-                           [](uint32_t index){ return index; }));
+                           [&](uint32_t index){ return index; }));
+            result = meshToScriptValue(engine, meshProxy);
         }
     });
-    result = meshToScriptValue(engine, meshProxy);
     return success;
 }
diff --git a/libraries/entities-renderer/src/RenderablePolyVoxEntityItem.h b/libraries/entities-renderer/src/RenderablePolyVoxEntityItem.h
index cf4672f068..e6467be987 100644
--- a/libraries/entities-renderer/src/RenderablePolyVoxEntityItem.h
+++ b/libraries/entities-renderer/src/RenderablePolyVoxEntityItem.h
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ public:
     uint8_t getVoxelInternal(int x, int y, int z) const;
     bool setVoxelInternal(int x, int y, int z, uint8_t toValue);
 
-    void setVolDataDirty() { withWriteLock([&] { _volDataDirty = true; }); }
+    void setVolDataDirty() { withWriteLock([&] { _volDataDirty = true; _meshReady = false; }); }
 
     // Transparent polyvox didn't seem to be working so disable for now
     bool isTransparent() override { return false; }
@@ -157,7 +157,7 @@ private:
     model::MeshPointer _mesh;
     gpu::Stream::FormatPointer _vertexFormat;
     bool _meshDirty { true }; // does collision-shape need to be recomputed?
-    bool _meshInitialized { false };
+    bool _meshReady { false };
 
     NetworkTexturePointer _xTexture;
     NetworkTexturePointer _yTexture;
diff --git a/libraries/entities/src/EntityScriptingInterface.cpp b/libraries/entities/src/EntityScriptingInterface.cpp
index 7ab0c3f7d9..88cc527164 100644
--- a/libraries/entities/src/EntityScriptingInterface.cpp
+++ b/libraries/entities/src/EntityScriptingInterface.cpp
@@ -934,11 +934,7 @@ void EntityScriptingInterface::voxelsToMesh(QUuid entityID, QScriptValue callbac
     QScriptValue mesh { false };
 
     polyVoxWorker(entityID, [&](PolyVoxEntityItem& polyVoxEntity) mutable {
-        if (polyVoxEntity.getOnCount() == 0) {
-            success = true;
-        } else {
-            success = polyVoxEntity.getMeshAsScriptValue(callback.engine(), mesh);
-        }
+        success = polyVoxEntity.getMeshAsScriptValue(callback.engine(), mesh);
         return true;
     });
 
@@ -1578,3 +1574,20 @@ glm::mat4 EntityScriptingInterface::getEntityTransform(const QUuid& entityID) {
     }
     return result;
 }
+
+glm::mat4 EntityScriptingInterface::getEntityLocalTransform(const QUuid& entityID) {
+    glm::mat4 result;
+    if (_entityTree) {
+        _entityTree->withReadLock([&] {
+            EntityItemPointer entity = _entityTree->findEntityByEntityItemID(EntityItemID(entityID));
+            if (entity) {
+                glm::mat4 translation = glm::translate(entity->getLocalPosition());
+                glm::mat4 rotation = glm::mat4_cast(entity->getLocalOrientation());
+                glm::mat4 registration = glm::translate(ENTITY_ITEM_DEFAULT_REGISTRATION_POINT -
+                                                        entity->getRegistrationPoint());
+                result = translation * rotation * registration;
+            }
+        });
+    }
+    return result;
+}
diff --git a/libraries/entities/src/EntityScriptingInterface.h b/libraries/entities/src/EntityScriptingInterface.h
index fa727aaa7a..71758ba53f 100644
--- a/libraries/entities/src/EntityScriptingInterface.h
+++ b/libraries/entities/src/EntityScriptingInterface.h
@@ -304,6 +304,16 @@ public slots:
      */
     Q_INVOKABLE glm::mat4 getEntityTransform(const QUuid& entityID);
 
+
+    /**jsdoc
+     * Returns object to world transform, excluding scale
+     *
+     * @function Entities.getEntityLocalTransform
+     * @param {EntityID} entityID The ID of the entity whose local transform is to be returned
+     * @return {Mat4} Entity's object to parent transform, excluding scale
+     */
+    Q_INVOKABLE glm::mat4 getEntityLocalTransform(const QUuid& entityID);
+
 signals:
     void collisionWithEntity(const EntityItemID& idA, const EntityItemID& idB, const Collision& collision);
 
diff --git a/libraries/model/src/model/Geometry.cpp b/libraries/model/src/model/Geometry.cpp
index 04b0db92d3..341015816e 100755
--- a/libraries/model/src/model/Geometry.cpp
+++ b/libraries/model/src/model/Geometry.cpp
@@ -228,7 +228,7 @@ void Mesh::forEach(std::function<void(glm::vec3)> vertexFunc,
 
     // normal data
     const gpu::BufferView& normalsBufferView = getAttributeBuffer(attributeTypeNormal);
-    gpu::BufferView::Index numNormals =  (gpu::BufferView::Index) normalsBufferView.getNumElements();
+    gpu::BufferView::Index numNormals =  (gpu::BufferView::Index)normalsBufferView.getNumElements();
     for (gpu::BufferView::Index i = 0; i < numNormals; i ++) {
         normalFunc(normalsBufferView.get<glm::vec3>(i));
     }