diff --git a/libraries/voxels/src/VoxelPacket.cpp b/libraries/voxels/src/VoxelPacket.cpp
index 68739ae65e..80060853f1 100644
--- a/libraries/voxels/src/VoxelPacket.cpp
+++ b/libraries/voxels/src/VoxelPacket.cpp
@@ -116,14 +116,14 @@ bool VoxelPacket::appendBitMask(unsigned char bitmask) {
     return success;
 }
 
-bool VoxelPacket::appendColor(rgbColor color) {
+bool VoxelPacket::appendColor(const nodeColor& color) {
     // eventually we can make this use a dictionary...
     bool success = false;
     const int BYTES_PER_COLOR = 3;
     if (_bytesAvailable > BYTES_PER_COLOR) {
-        append(color[0]);
-        append(color[1]);
-        append(color[2]);
+        append(color[RED_INDEX]);
+        append(color[GREEN_INDEX]);
+        append(color[BLUE_INDEX]);
         success = true;
     }
     return success;
diff --git a/libraries/voxels/src/VoxelPacket.h b/libraries/voxels/src/VoxelPacket.h
index 060fa4a653..dca796de23 100644
--- a/libraries/voxels/src/VoxelPacket.h
+++ b/libraries/voxels/src/VoxelPacket.h
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ public:
     bool updatePriorBytes(int offset, const unsigned char* replacementBytes, int length);
 
     /// appends a color to the end of the stream, may fail if new data stream is too long to fit in packet
-    bool appendColor(rgbColor color);
+    bool appendColor(const nodeColor& color);
 
     /// returns a byte offset from beginning of the uncompressed stream based on offset from end. 
     /// Positive offsetFromEnd returns that many bytes before the end of uncompressed stream
diff --git a/libraries/voxels/src/VoxelTree.cpp b/libraries/voxels/src/VoxelTree.cpp
index 5ac82697e8..8acfac7318 100644
--- a/libraries/voxels/src/VoxelTree.cpp
+++ b/libraries/voxels/src/VoxelTree.cpp
@@ -1439,12 +1439,7 @@ int VoxelTree::encodeTreeBitstreamRecursion(VoxelNode* node,
         for (int i = 0; i < NUMBER_OF_CHILDREN; i++) {
             if (oneAtBit(childrenColoredBits, i)) {
                 VoxelNode* childNode = node->getChildAtIndex(i);
-                
-                rgbColor color;
-                color[0] = childNode->getColor()[0];
-                color[1] = childNode->getColor()[1];
-                color[2] = childNode->getColor()[2];
-                continueThisLevel = packet->appendColor(color);
+                continueThisLevel = packet->appendColor(childNode->getColor());
                 
                 if (!continueThisLevel) {
                     break; // no point in continuing