diff --git a/jme3-core/src/main/java/com/jme3/util/clone/Cloner.java b/jme3-core/src/main/java/com/jme3/util/clone/Cloner.java
index d5ffa10de..cc046b28a 100644
--- a/jme3-core/src/main/java/com/jme3/util/clone/Cloner.java
+++ b/jme3-core/src/main/java/com/jme3/util/clone/Cloner.java
@@ -221,7 +221,17 @@ public class Cloner {
             clone = arrayClone(object);
             
             // Array clone already indexes the clone
+        } else if( object instanceof JmeCloneable ) {
+            // Use the two-step cloning semantics
+            clone = ((JmeCloneable)object).jmeClone();
+            
+            // Store the object in the identity map so that any circular references
+            // are resolvable
+            index.put(object, clone); 
+            
+            ((JmeCloneable)clone).cloneFields(this, object);
         } else if( object instanceof Cloneable ) {
+            
             // Perform a regular Java shallow clone
             try {
                 clone = javaClone(object);
@@ -236,12 +246,6 @@ public class Cloner {
             throw new IllegalArgumentException("Object is not cloneable, type:" + type);
         }
         
-        // Finally, check to see if the object implements special field cloning
-        // behavior.       
-        if( clone instanceof JmeCloneable ) {
-            ((JmeCloneable)clone).cloneFields(this, object);
-        }
-        
         return type.cast(clone);
     }
  
diff --git a/jme3-core/src/main/java/com/jme3/util/clone/JmeCloneable.java b/jme3-core/src/main/java/com/jme3/util/clone/JmeCloneable.java
index 28049e0f1..6b278b222 100644
--- a/jme3-core/src/main/java/com/jme3/util/clone/JmeCloneable.java
+++ b/jme3-core/src/main/java/com/jme3/util/clone/JmeCloneable.java
@@ -61,9 +61,21 @@ package com.jme3.util.clone;
 public interface JmeCloneable extends Cloneable {
 
     /**
-     *  Performs a shallow clone of the object.
+     *  Performs a regular shallow clone of the object.  Some fields
+     *  may also be cloned but generally only if they will never be
+     *  shared with other objects.  (For example, local Vector3fs and so on.)
+     *
+     *  <p>This method is separate from the regular clone() method
+     *  so that objects might still maintain their own regular java clone()
+     *  semantics (perhaps even using Cloner for those methods).  However,
+     *  because Java's clone() has specific features in the sense of Object's
+     *  clone() implementation, it's usually best to have some path for
+     *  subclasses to bypass the public clone() method that might be cloning
+     *  fields and instead get at the superclass protected clone() methods.
+     *  For example, through super.jmeClone() or another protected clone
+     *  method that some base class eventually calls super.clone() in.</p>
      */
-    public Object clone();     
+    public Object jmeClone();     
 
     /**
      *  Implemented to perform deep cloning for this object, resolving
diff --git a/jme3-examples/src/main/java/jme3test/app/TestCloner.java b/jme3-examples/src/main/java/jme3test/app/TestCloner.java
index b28647a23..4ae105603 100644
--- a/jme3-examples/src/main/java/jme3test/app/TestCloner.java
+++ b/jme3-examples/src/main/java/jme3test/app/TestCloner.java
@@ -170,6 +170,12 @@ public class TestCloner {
                 throw new RuntimeException(e);
             }
         }
+        
+        public Parent jmeClone() {
+            // Ok to delegate to clone() in this case because no deep
+            // cloning is done there.
+            return clone();
+        }
  
         public void cloneFields( Cloner cloner, Object original ) {
             this.ro = cloner.clone(ro);
@@ -224,7 +230,7 @@ public class TestCloner {
             return links;
         }
         
-        public GraphNode clone() {
+        public GraphNode jmeClone() {
             try {
                 return (GraphNode)super.clone();
             } catch( CloneNotSupportedException e ) {
@@ -267,7 +273,7 @@ public class TestCloner {
             }
         }
         
-        public ArrayHolder clone() {
+        public ArrayHolder jmeClone() {
             try {
                 return (ArrayHolder)super.clone();
             } catch( CloneNotSupportedException e ) {