diff --git a/example/bin/.gitignore b/example/bin/.gitignore
index a4a7aed..e2b3e9d 100644
--- a/example/bin/.gitignore
+++ b/example/bin/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 *.app
 data/*.jpg
-data/*.xml
+data/settings.xml
diff --git a/example/bin/data/surfaces.xml b/example/bin/data/surfaces.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9e94bfb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/example/bin/data/surfaces.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+<surfaces>
+    <surface>
+        <vertices>
+            <vertex>
+                <x>300.000000000</x>
+                <y>0.000000000</y>
+            </vertex>
+            <vertex>
+                <x>0.000000000</x>
+                <y>500.000000000</y>
+            </vertex>
+            <vertex>
+                <x>600.000000000</x>
+                <y>500.000000000</y>
+            </vertex>
+        </vertices>
+        <texCoords>
+            <texCoord>
+                <x>0.500000000</x>
+                <y>0.000000000</y>
+            </texCoord>
+            <texCoord>
+                <x>0.000000000</x>
+                <y>1.000000000</y>
+            </texCoord>
+            <texCoord>
+                <x>1.000000000</x>
+                <y>1.000000000</y>
+            </texCoord>
+        </texCoords>
+        <source>
+            <source-type>image</source-type>
+            <source-name>none</source-name>
+        </source>
+    </surface>
+    <surface>
+        <vertices>
+            <vertex>
+                <x>24.000000000</x>
+                <y>33.000000000</y>
+            </vertex>
+            <vertex>
+                <x>566.000000000</x>
+                <y>35.000000000</y>
+            </vertex>
+            <vertex>
+                <x>207.000000000</x>
+                <y>310.000000000</y>
+            </vertex>
+        </vertices>
+        <texCoords>
+            <texCoord>
+                <x>0.500000000</x>
+                <y>0.000000000</y>
+            </texCoord>
+            <texCoord>
+                <x>0.000000000</x>
+                <y>1.000000000</y>
+            </texCoord>
+            <texCoord>
+                <x>1.000000000</x>
+                <y>1.000000000</y>
+            </texCoord>
+        </texCoords>
+        <source>
+            <source-type>image</source-type>
+            <source-name>image5.jpg</source-name>
+        </source>
+    </surface>
+    <surface>
+        <vertices>
+            <vertex>
+                <x>74.709846497</x>
+                <y>448.636596680</y>
+            </vertex>
+            <vertex>
+                <x>564.630920410</x>
+                <y>201.926849365</y>
+            </vertex>
+            <vertex>
+                <x>23.396121979</x>
+                <y>257.170288086</y>
+            </vertex>
+        </vertices>
+        <texCoords>
+            <texCoord>
+                <x>0.981523871</x>
+                <y>0.471785098</y>
+            </texCoord>
+            <texCoord>
+                <x>0.245601788</x>
+                <y>0.110941604</y>
+            </texCoord>
+            <texCoord>
+                <x>0.662217021</x>
+                <y>0.714698017</y>
+            </texCoord>
+        </texCoords>
+        <source>
+            <source-type>image</source-type>
+            <source-name>image4.jpg</source-name>
+        </source>
+    </surface>
+</surfaces>
diff --git a/example/src/ofApp.cpp b/example/src/ofApp.cpp
index 83228f7..42d3982 100644
--- a/example/src/ofApp.cpp
+++ b/example/src/ofApp.cpp
@@ -5,12 +5,16 @@ void ofApp::setup()
     image.loadImage("TestPatternInvert.jpg");
     bShowInfo = false;
     
+    /*
     surfaceManager.addSurface( ofxSurfaceType::TRIANGLE_SURFACE );
     
     surfaceManager.addSurface( ofxSurfaceType::TRIANGLE_SURFACE );
     surfaceManager.getSurface(1)->setVertex(0, ofVec2f(10, 10));
     surfaceManager.getSurface(1)->setVertex(1, ofVec2f(400, 20));
     surfaceManager.getSurface(1)->setVertex(2, ofVec2f(300, 400));
+    */
+    
+    surfaceManager.loadXmlSettings("surfaces.xml");
     
     gui.setSurfaceManager( &surfaceManager );
 }
diff --git a/src/ofxSurfaceManager.cpp b/src/ofxSurfaceManager.cpp
index 6293387..f01e532 100644
--- a/src/ofxSurfaceManager.cpp
+++ b/src/ofxSurfaceManager.cpp
@@ -184,7 +184,85 @@ void ofxSurfaceManager::saveXmlSettings(string fileName)
 
 void ofxSurfaceManager::loadXmlSettings(string fileName)
 {
+    if (!xmlSettings.loadFile(fileName)){
+        ofLog(OF_LOG_WARNING, "Could not load XML settings.");
+        return;
+    }
+    
+    if (!xmlSettings.tagExists("surfaces")){
+        ofLog(OF_LOG_WARNING, "XML settings is empty or has wrong markup.");
+        return;
+    }
+    
+    xmlSettings.pushTag("surfaces");
+    
+    int numSurfaces = xmlSettings.getNumTags("surface");
+    for ( int i=0; i<numSurfaces; i++ ) {
+        xmlSettings.pushTag("surface", i);
+        
+        // attempt to load surface source
+        xmlSettings.pushTag("source");
+        string sourceType = xmlSettings.getValue("source-type", "image");
+        string sourceName = xmlSettings.getValue("source-name", "none");
+        ofTexture* sourceTexture = NULL;
+        if ( sourceName != "none" ) {
+            stringstream ss;
+            ss << "sources/images/" << sourceName; // TODO: reuse constants here
+            sourceTexture = loadImageSource(sourceName, ss.str());
+        }
+        xmlSettings.popTag(); // source
+        
+        // get vertices (only for triangle surface for now)
+        xmlSettings.pushTag("vertices");
+        
+        vector<ofVec2f> vertices;
+        
+        xmlSettings.pushTag("vertex", 0);
+        vertices.push_back( ofVec2f( xmlSettings.getValue("x", 0.0f), xmlSettings.getValue("y", 0.0f) ) );
+        xmlSettings.popTag();
+        
+        xmlSettings.pushTag("vertex", 1);
+        vertices.push_back( ofVec2f( xmlSettings.getValue("x", 100.0f), xmlSettings.getValue("y", 0.0f) ) );
+        xmlSettings.popTag();
+        
+        xmlSettings.pushTag("vertex", 2);
+        vertices.push_back( ofVec2f( xmlSettings.getValue("x", 0.0f), xmlSettings.getValue("y", 100.0f) ) );
+        xmlSettings.popTag();
+        
+        xmlSettings.popTag(); // vertices
+        
+        // get texture coordinates (only for triangle surfaces for now)
+        xmlSettings.pushTag("texCoords");
+        
+        vector<ofVec2f> texCoords;
+        
+        xmlSettings.pushTag("texCoord", 0);
+        texCoords.push_back( ofVec2f( xmlSettings.getValue("x", 0.0f), xmlSettings.getValue("y", 0.0f) ) );
+        xmlSettings.popTag();
+        
+        xmlSettings.pushTag("texCoord", 1);
+        texCoords.push_back( ofVec2f( xmlSettings.getValue("x", 1.0f), xmlSettings.getValue("y", 0.0f) ) );
+        xmlSettings.popTag();
+        
+        xmlSettings.pushTag("texCoord", 2);
+        texCoords.push_back( ofVec2f( xmlSettings.getValue("x", 0.0f), xmlSettings.getValue("y", 1.0f) ) );
+        xmlSettings.popTag();
+        
+        xmlSettings.popTag(); // texCoords
+        
+        
+        // now we have variables sourceName and sourceTexture
+        // by checking those we can use one or another addSurface method
+        if ( sourceName != "none" && sourceTexture != NULL ) {
+            addSurface(ofxSurfaceType::TRIANGLE_SURFACE, sourceTexture, vertices, texCoords);
+        } else {
+            addSurface(ofxSurfaceType::TRIANGLE_SURFACE, vertices, texCoords);
+        }
+        
+        xmlSettings.popTag(); // surface
+    }
     
+    xmlSettings.popTag(); // surfaces
 }
 
 ofxBaseSurface* ofxSurfaceManager::selectSurface(int index)
@@ -218,7 +296,9 @@ ofTexture* ofxSurfaceManager::loadImageSource(string name, string path)
     
     // not loaded - load
     ofImage* image = new ofImage();
-    image->loadImage(path);
+    if ( !image->loadImage(path) ){
+        return NULL;
+    }
     loadedImageSources.push_back(image);
     loadedImageSourceNames.push_back(name);
     return &image->getTextureReference();