diff --git a/VirtualRobot/Nodes/RobotNode.cpp b/VirtualRobot/Nodes/RobotNode.cpp
index a7e567aafee3dbc0216178d9ea995b76520d9bee..0718269f0b965a594f16f89fe0453f1b26b2ea63 100644
--- a/VirtualRobot/Nodes/RobotNode.cpp
+++ b/VirtualRobot/Nodes/RobotNode.cpp
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 
 #include <boost/math/special_functions/fpclassify.hpp>
 #include <boost/pointer_cast.hpp>
+#include <boost/filesystem.hpp>
 
 #include <Eigen/Core>
 
@@ -693,7 +694,7 @@ std::vector<SensorPtr> RobotNode::getSensors() const
 	return sensors;
 }
 
-std::string RobotNode::toXML( const std::string &modelPath /*= "models"*/, bool storeSensors )
+std::string RobotNode::toXML( const std::string &basePath, const std::string &modelPathRelative /*= "models"*/, bool storeSensors )
 {
     std::stringstream ss;
     ss << "\t<RobotNode name='" << name << "'>" << endl;
@@ -703,24 +704,35 @@ std::string RobotNode::toXML( const std::string &modelPath /*= "models"*/, bool
         ss << BaseIO::toXML(localTransformation,"\t\t\t");
         ss << "\t\t</Transform>" << endl;
     }
-    ss << _toXML(modelPath);
+    ss << _toXML(modelPathRelative);
 	if (physics.isSet())
 		ss << physics.toXML(2);
-	if (visualizationModel && visualizationModel->getTriMeshModel() && visualizationModel->getTriMeshModel()->faces.size()>0)
+    boost::filesystem::path pBase(basePath);
+    if (visualizationModel && visualizationModel->getTriMeshModel() && visualizationModel->getTriMeshModel()->faces.size()>0)
 	{
 		std::string visuFile = getFilenameReplacementVisuModel();
-        ss << visualizationModel->toXML(modelPath,visuFile,2);
+
+        boost::filesystem::path pModel(modelPathRelative);
+        boost::filesystem::path modelDirComplete = boost::filesystem::operator/(pBase,pModel);
+        boost::filesystem::path fn(visuFile);
+        boost::filesystem::path modelFileComplete = boost::filesystem::operator/(modelDirComplete,fn);
+
+        ss << visualizationModel->toXML(pBase.string(),modelFileComplete.string(),2);
 	}
 	if (collisionModel && collisionModel->getTriMeshModel() && collisionModel->getTriMeshModel()->faces.size()>0)
 	{
 		std::string colFile = getFilenameReplacementColModel();
-        ss << collisionModel->toXML(modelPath,colFile,2);
+        boost::filesystem::path pModel(modelPathRelative);
+        boost::filesystem::path modelDirComplete = boost::filesystem::operator/(pBase,pModel);
+        boost::filesystem::path fn(colFile);
+        boost::filesystem::path modelFileComplete = boost::filesystem::operator/(modelDirComplete,fn);
+        ss << collisionModel->toXML(pBase.string(),modelFileComplete.string(),2);
 	}
     if (storeSensors)
 	{
 		for (size_t i=0;i<sensors.size();i++)
 		{
-			ss << sensors[i]->toXML(modelPath,2);
+            ss << sensors[i]->toXML(modelPathRelative,2);
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/VirtualRobot/Nodes/RobotNode.h b/VirtualRobot/Nodes/RobotNode.h
index 2654d27fbe29b4ab97f24a39c0cad72421efc647..4eceffdb27d68a94b53db6c69a19311faef2cb45 100644
--- a/VirtualRobot/Nodes/RobotNode.h
+++ b/VirtualRobot/Nodes/RobotNode.h
@@ -291,7 +291,7 @@ public:
 		Creates an XML string that defines the robotnode. Filenames of all visualization models are set to modelPath/RobotNodeName_visu and/or modelPath/RobotNodeName_colmodel.
 		@see RobotIO::saveXML.
 	*/
-	virtual std::string toXML(const std::string &modelPath = "models", bool storeSensors = true);
+    virtual std::string toXML( const std::string &basePath, const std::string &modelPathRelative = "models", bool storeSensors = true);
 
 protected:
 
diff --git a/VirtualRobot/Robot.cpp b/VirtualRobot/Robot.cpp
index c758af208eeb29a1db45ad6fbb18b79bf89e431e..422ae3311629354a9db2348c5f926cd5581ea11c 100644
--- a/VirtualRobot/Robot.cpp
+++ b/VirtualRobot/Robot.cpp
@@ -865,7 +865,7 @@ std::vector<SensorPtr> Robot::getSensors()
 	return result;
 }
 
-std::string Robot::toXML( const std::string &modelPath /*= "models"*/, bool storeEEF, bool storeRNS, bool storeSensors )
+std::string Robot::toXML(const std::string &basePath,  const std::string &modelPath /*= "models"*/, bool storeEEF, bool storeRNS, bool storeSensors )
 {
     std::stringstream ss;
     ss << "<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>" << endl << endl;
@@ -873,7 +873,7 @@ std::string Robot::toXML( const std::string &modelPath /*= "models"*/, bool stor
     std::vector<RobotNodePtr> nodes = getRobotNodes();
     for (size_t i=0;i<nodes.size();i++)
     {
-        ss << nodes[i]->toXML(modelPath, storeSensors) << endl;
+        ss << nodes[i]->toXML(basePath, modelPath, storeSensors) << endl;
     }
     ss << endl;
 	if (storeRNS)
diff --git a/VirtualRobot/Robot.h b/VirtualRobot/Robot.h
index 9a6bd36e0b4a9c0001d95270c4a65447e68f091e..d64479b7f4871aace0379635e05bed6c8658f49f 100644
--- a/VirtualRobot/Robot.h
+++ b/VirtualRobot/Robot.h
@@ -378,7 +378,7 @@ public:
 		Creates an XML string that defines the complete robot. Filenames of all visualization models are set to modelPath/RobotNodeName_visu and/or modelPath/RobotNodeName_colmodel.
 		@see RobotIO::saveXML.
 	*/
-	virtual std::string toXML(const std::string &modelPath = "models", bool storeEEF = true, bool storeRNS = true, bool storeSensors = true);
+    virtual std::string toXML(const std::string &basePath = ".", const std::string &modelPath = "models", bool storeEEF = true, bool storeRNS = true, bool storeSensors = true);
 
 protected:
 	Robot();
diff --git a/VirtualRobot/XML/RobotIO.cpp b/VirtualRobot/XML/RobotIO.cpp
index a9be99e571767b99fd6e049cb3d2b44c6971598e..9c625961e9016529cf147531dac2d97e6d3cadfe 100644
--- a/VirtualRobot/XML/RobotIO.cpp
+++ b/VirtualRobot/XML/RobotIO.cpp
@@ -1212,7 +1212,7 @@ bool RobotIO::saveXML(RobotPtr robot, const std::string &filename, const std::st
         return false;
     }
 
-    std::string xmlRob = robot->toXML(modelDir, storeEEF, storeRNS, storeSensors);
+    std::string xmlRob = robot->toXML(basePath, modelDir, storeEEF, storeRNS, storeSensors);
     f << xmlRob;
     f.close();