diff --git a/js/cells/DMACell.js b/js/cells/DMACell.js
index df65540700e8a75feecae155e9b87e3db3381e70..ae633d42d1b7caef1c0ffbd20a3b79dcd78dca58 100644
--- a/js/cells/DMACell.js
+++ b/js/cells/DMACell.js
@@ -234,7 +234,7 @@ define(['underscore', 'three', 'threeModel', 'lattice', 'appState', 'globals', '
         }
         var material = materials.getMaterialForId(this.materialName, returnTHREEObject, this.isTransparent);
         if (!material) {
-            console.warn("no material object found of type " + id);
+            console.warn("no material object found of type " + this.materialName);
             return null;
         }
         return material;
diff --git a/js/materials/DMAMaterials.js b/js/materials/DMAMaterials.js
index bf1810224bf8e15bdd995739333d06f51af12e64..15ecbf33053ca254ee82c53f72368561a030ed3d 100644
--- a/js/materials/DMAMaterials.js
+++ b/js/materials/DMAMaterials.js
@@ -77,6 +77,10 @@ define(['underscore', 'three', 'appState', 'lattice', 'plist', 'threeModel'], fu
     function getMaterialForId(id, returnTHREEObject, transparent){
         var material = materialsList[id];
         if (!returnTHREEObject) return material;
+        if (!material){
+            console.warn("no material object found for type "+ id);
+            return null;
+        }
         if (!material.threeMaterial){
             console.warn("no three material object found for type "+ id);
             return null;