diff --git a/examples/render_groups/main.cpp b/examples/render_groups/main.cpp
index 39365d8..25320c9 100644
--- a/examples/render_groups/main.cpp
+++ b/examples/render_groups/main.cpp
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@ main()
 
 	renDoRenderLoop(rs, 60, doFrameCallbackPre);
 #endif
-	model* ret = assetLoadFromFile(rs->models,
+	model* ret = assetLoadFromFile(rs->assets,
 		rs->arena,
 		"../data/blender/spaceship.gltf");
 	assert(ret != nullptr);
diff --git a/include/asset.h b/include/asset.h
index 27af3b2..6880d2b 100644
--- a/include/asset.h
+++ b/include/asset.h
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 
 #pragma once
 
+#include <GL/glew.h>
 #include <glm/glm.hpp>
 
 #include "animation.h"
@@ -13,6 +14,8 @@
 
 struct mesh
 {
+	GLenum draw_mode; // NOTE: GL_LINES, GL_TRIANGLES
+	GLenum usage; // NOTE: GL_STATIC_DRAW, GL_DYNAMIC_DRAW
 	uint num_vertices;
 	uint num_indices;
 	glm::vec3* vertices;
@@ -21,8 +24,8 @@ struct mesh
 	// FIXME: will have to use vec2 here to be able to use memcpy
 	// 	this will break render_object::initGLFLoatBuffer logic which expects
 	// 	vec3
-	glm::vec3* texture_coords;
-	glm::mat4 xform;
+	glm::vec2* texture_coords;
+	glm::mat4* xform;
 };
 
 #define MAX_PATH_SIZE 256
diff --git a/include/renderer.h b/include/renderer.h
index 7200f93..2e99707 100644
--- a/include/renderer.h
+++ b/include/renderer.h
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ struct render_state
 	uint render_group_count;
 
 	// WIP
-	model_assets* models;
+	model_assets* assets;
 	memory_arena* arena;
 	// FIXME: should be a hashmap for textures loaded from assets
 	// 	ie) pallete textures
diff --git a/src/asset.cpp b/src/asset.cpp
index cd0536a..2aa72b0 100644
--- a/src/asset.cpp
+++ b/src/asset.cpp
@@ -21,9 +21,9 @@ const char*
 getElementType(int type)
 {
 	switch (type) {
-		case 2: return "VEC2";
-		case 3: return "VEC3";
-		case 4: return "VEC4";
+		case 2: return "TINYGLTF_TYPE_VEC2";
+		case 3: return "TINYGLTF_TYPE_VEC3";
+		case 4: return "TINYGLTF_TYPE_VEC4";
 		case 65: return "TINYGLTF_TYPE_SCALAR";
 		default: return "UNKNOWN";
 	}
@@ -118,6 +118,7 @@ dumpNodes(tinygltf::Model t_mdl)
 {
 	for (tinygltf::Node node : t_mdl.nodes) {
 		LOG(Debug) << "##################\n";
+		LOG(Debug) << "node name: " << node.name << "\n";
 		LOG(Debug) << "node mesh idx: " << node.mesh << "\n";
 
 		if (node.mesh >= 0) {
@@ -141,6 +142,70 @@ dumpNodes(tinygltf::Model t_mdl)
 	}
 }
 
+bool
+copyBuffer(uint8_t*& buffer_ref,
+	memory_arena* arena,
+	int acc_idx,
+	const tinygltf::Model& t_mdl)
+{
+	const tinygltf::Accessor& acc = t_mdl.accessors[acc_idx];
+	const tinygltf::BufferView& bv = t_mdl.bufferViews[acc.bufferView];
+	const tinygltf::Buffer& t_buf = t_mdl.buffers[bv.buffer];
+
+	if (bv.target == TINYGLTF_TARGET_ARRAY_BUFFER) {
+		assert(acc.componentType == TINYGLTF_COMPONENT_TYPE_FLOAT
+			&& (acc.type == TINYGLTF_TYPE_VEC3
+				|| acc.type == TINYGLTF_TYPE_VEC2));
+	} else if (bv.target == TINYGLTF_TARGET_ELEMENT_ARRAY_BUFFER) {
+		assert(acc.type == TINYGLTF_TYPE_SCALAR
+			&& acc.componentType == TINYGLTF_COMPONENT_TYPE_UNSIGNED_SHORT);
+	} else {
+		LOG(Error) << "unknown target\n";
+		return false;
+	}
+
+	assert(bv.byteStride == 0);
+	buffer_ref = (uint8_t*) arenaAllocateBlock(arena, bv.byteLength);
+	std::memcpy(buffer_ref, &t_buf.data[bv.byteOffset], bv.byteLength);
+
+	return buffer_ref == nullptr;
+}
+
+bool
+parseMeshNode(mesh& m,
+	memory_arena* arena,
+	const tinygltf::Node& node,
+	const tinygltf::Model& t_mdl)
+{
+	tinygltf::Mesh t_mesh = t_mdl.meshes[node.mesh];
+	// NOTE: assume only 1 primitive object per mesh
+	assert(t_mdl.meshes[node.mesh].primitives.size() == 1);
+	tinygltf::Primitive prim = t_mesh.primitives[0];
+
+	// NOTE: verify assumptions about input
+	assert(prim.attributes.find("POSITION") != prim.attributes.end()
+		&& prim.attributes.find("NORMAL") != prim.attributes.end()
+		&& prim.attributes.find("TEXCOORD_0") != prim.attributes.end()
+		&& prim.indices >= 0);
+
+	const tinygltf::Accessor& vert_acc =
+		t_mdl.accessors[prim.attributes["POSITION"]];
+	const tinygltf::Accessor& index_acc = t_mdl.accessors[prim.indices];
+	m.num_vertices = vert_acc.count;
+	m.num_indices = index_acc.count;
+	m.draw_mode = prim.mode;
+	m.usage = GL_STATIC_DRAW; // TODO: logic for updating meshes
+	m.xform = (glm::mat4*) arenaAllocateBlock(arena, sizeof(glm::mat4));
+	copyBuffer(
+		(uint8_t*&) m.vertices, arena, prim.attributes["POSITION"], t_mdl);
+	copyBuffer((uint8_t*&) m.normals, arena, prim.attributes["NORMAL"], t_mdl);
+	copyBuffer((uint8_t*&) m.texture_coords,
+		arena, prim.attributes["TEXCOORD_0"], t_mdl);
+	copyBuffer((uint8_t*&) m.indices, arena, prim.indices, t_mdl);
+
+	return true;
+}
+
 model*
 assetLoadFromFile(model_assets* assets,
 	memory_arena* arena,
@@ -157,11 +222,25 @@ assetLoadFromFile(model_assets* assets,
 		return nullptr;
 	}
 
+	// NOTE: assume we're working with a single buffer
+	assert(t_mdl.buffers.size() == 1);
 	model* mdl = initModel(assets, arena, t_mdl, filename);
 	// TODO: also need to get each node xform
 	// TODO: also need to dump textures/materials
 	dumpNodes(t_mdl);
 
+	uint mesh_idx = 0;
+
+	for (tinygltf::Node node : t_mdl.nodes) {
+		if (node.mesh >= 0) {
+			if (!parseMeshNode(mdl->meshes[mesh_idx++], arena, node, t_mdl)) {
+				// FIXME: error handling
+				LOG(Error) << "Some mesh parsing error\n";
+				return nullptr;
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
 	return mdl;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/render_object.cpp b/src/render_object.cpp
index 7a216dc..b782ed9 100644
--- a/src/render_object.cpp
+++ b/src/render_object.cpp
@@ -297,6 +297,7 @@ loadMeshIntoGL(default_render_object* ro_out, mesh_info* mi_in)
 		initGLFloatBuffer(mi_in->normals,
 			mi_in->num_vertices,
 			ro_out->normal_buffer_id) &&
+		// FIXME: this is broken now with tinygltf, need to use vec2
 		initGLFloatBuffer(mi_in->texture_coords,
 			mi_in->num_vertices,
 			ro_out->uv_buffer_id) &&
diff --git a/src/renderer.cpp b/src/renderer.cpp
index fd4917e..0039a35 100644
--- a/src/renderer.cpp
+++ b/src/renderer.cpp
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ renInit(const char* title,
 	render_state* rs = UTIL_ALLOC(1, render_state);
 	rs->handles = UTIL_ALLOC(1, SDL_Handles);
 	rs->arena = arenaInit(arena_size);
-	rs->models = assetInitBlock(rs->arena, asset_size);
+	rs->assets = assetInitBlock(rs->arena, asset_size);
 	setDefaults(rs, viewport_dims);
 
 	if (initSDL(rs->handles, SDL_init_flags) &&