diff --git a/examples/common/OpenGLWidget.h b/examples/common/OpenGLWidget.h
index d80b7a70..96102a99 100644
--- a/examples/common/OpenGLWidget.h
+++ b/examples/common/OpenGLWidget.h
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ public:
 		//The GL_ARRAY_BUFFER will contain the list of vertex positions
 		glGenBuffers(1, &(meshData.vertexBuffer));
 		glBindBuffer(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, meshData.vertexBuffer);
-		glBufferData(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, vecVertices.size() * sizeof(CubicVertex<uint8_t>), vecVertices.data(), GL_STATIC_DRAW);
+		glBufferData(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, vecVertices.size() * sizeof(MeshType::VertexType), vecVertices.data(), GL_STATIC_DRAW);
 
 		//and GL_ELEMENT_ARRAY_BUFFER will contain the indices
 		glGenBuffers(1, &(meshData.indexBuffer));
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ public:
 
 		//We need to tell OpenGL how to understand the format of the vertex data
 		glEnableVertexAttribArray(0); //We're talking about shader attribute '0' 
-		glVertexAttribPointer(0, 3, GL_FLOAT, GL_FALSE, sizeof(CubicVertex<uint8_t>), 0); //take the first 3 floats from every sizeof(decltype(vecVertices)::value_type)
+		glVertexAttribPointer(0, 3, GL_FLOAT, GL_FALSE, sizeof(MeshType::VertexType), 0); //take the first 3 floats from every sizeof(decltype(vecVertices)::value_type)
 
 		glBindVertexArray(0);
 
diff --git a/library/PolyVoxCore/include/PolyVoxCore/Mesh.h b/library/PolyVoxCore/include/PolyVoxCore/Mesh.h
index 90ebbfac..bcb40576 100644
--- a/library/PolyVoxCore/include/PolyVoxCore/Mesh.h
+++ b/library/PolyVoxCore/include/PolyVoxCore/Mesh.h
@@ -45,10 +45,13 @@ namespace PolyVox
 		int endIndex; //Let's put it just past the end STL style
 	};
 
-	template <typename VertexType>
+	template <typename _VertexType>
 	class Mesh
 	{
 	public:
+
+		typedef _VertexType VertexType;
+
 	   Mesh();
 	   ~Mesh();	   
 
diff --git a/library/PolyVoxCore/include/PolyVoxCore/VertexTypes.h b/library/PolyVoxCore/include/PolyVoxCore/VertexTypes.h
index a5a24d79..e8d938ae 100644
--- a/library/PolyVoxCore/include/PolyVoxCore/VertexTypes.h
+++ b/library/PolyVoxCore/include/PolyVoxCore/VertexTypes.h
@@ -36,11 +36,14 @@ namespace PolyVox
 #ifdef SWIG
 	class CubicVertex
 #else
-	template<typename VoxelType>
+	template<typename _VoxelType>
 	class POLYVOX_API CubicVertex
 #endif
 	{
 	public:	
+
+		typedef _VoxelType VoxelType;
+
 		CubicVertex()
 		{
 		}
@@ -97,11 +100,14 @@ namespace PolyVox
 #ifdef SWIG
 	class MarchingCubesVertex
 #else
-	template<typename VoxelType>
+	template<typename _VoxelType>
 	class POLYVOX_API MarchingCubesVertex
 #endif
 	{
 	public:
+
+		typedef _VoxelType VoxelType;
+
 		MarchingCubesVertex()
 		{
 		}