diff --git a/FullTextureMapper.py b/FullTextureMapper.py
index cc6be9d..eeb825e 100644
--- a/FullTextureMapper.py
+++ b/FullTextureMapper.py
@@ -222,7 +222,7 @@ def __init__(self, ply_path, aoi_filename, recon_path,
         self.reconstruction = Reconstruction(aoi_filename, recon_path,
                                              use_skewed_images)
 
-        self.tmesh = trimesh.load(ply_path)
+        self.tmesh = trimesh.load(ply_path, process=False)  # don't merge vertices on load
         print('num_vertices: {}'.format(np.shape(self.tmesh.vertices)[0]))
         print('number of facets (excluding singletons): {}'.format(
             np.shape(self.tmesh.facets)[0]))