diff --git a/example/bin/.gitignore b/example/bin/.gitignore
index e2b3e9d..44fbbc9 100644
--- a/example/bin/.gitignore
+++ b/example/bin/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 *.app
 data/*.jpg
 data/settings.xml
+data/surfaces.xml
diff --git a/example/bin/data/surfaces.xml b/example/bin/data/defaultSurfaces.xml
similarity index 100%
rename from example/bin/data/surfaces.xml
rename to example/bin/data/defaultSurfaces.xml
diff --git a/example/src/ofApp.cpp b/example/src/ofApp.cpp
index dd3132e..fc1fc8f 100644
--- a/example/src/ofApp.cpp
+++ b/example/src/ofApp.cpp
@@ -14,7 +14,14 @@ void ofApp::setup()
     surfaceManager.getSurface(1)->setVertex(2, ofVec2f(300, 400));
     */
     
-    surfaceManager.loadXmlSettings("surfaces.xml");
+    // check if the surfaces.xml file is there
+    // if not - load defaultSurfaces.xml
+    
+    if ( ofFile::doesFileExist("surfaces.xml") ) {
+        surfaceManager.loadXmlSettings("surfaces.xml");
+    } else {
+        surfaceManager.loadXmlSettings("defaultSurfaces.xml");
+    }
     
     gui.setSurfaceManager( &surfaceManager );
 }