diff --git a/collada_parser/CMakeLists.txt b/collada_parser/CMakeLists.txt
index e88fffd..dfa37b4 100644
--- a/collada_parser/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/collada_parser/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -11,6 +11,12 @@ include($ENV{ROS_ROOT}/core/rosbuild/rosbuild.cmake)
 
 rosbuild_init()
 
+set(CMAKE_MODULE_PATH  ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake-extensions/ )
+find_package(PkgConfig)
+pkg_check_modules(COLLADADOM collada15dom)
+include_directories(${COLLADADOM_INCLUDE_DIRS})
+#link_directories(${COLLADADOM_LIBRARY_DIRS})
+
 #set the default path for built executables to the "bin" directory
 set(EXECUTABLE_OUTPUT_PATH ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/bin)
 #set the default path for built libraries to the "lib" directory
diff --git a/collada_parser/manifest.xml b/collada_parser/manifest.xml
index 5fed580..24ce3bf 100644
--- a/collada_parser/manifest.xml
+++ b/collada_parser/manifest.xml
@@ -13,10 +13,12 @@
 
   <depend package="roscpp"/>
   <depend package="urdf_interface"/>
-  <depend package="colladadom"/>
+
+  <rosdep name="colladadom"/>
 
   <export>
-    <cpp cflags="-I${prefix}/include" lflags="-Wl,-rpath,${prefix}/lib -L${prefix}/lib -lcollada_parser"/>
+    <cpp cflags="-I${prefix}/include `pkg-config --cflags collada15dom`" 
+         lflags="-Wl,-rpath,${prefix}/lib -L${prefix}/lib -lcollada_parser `pkg-config --libs collada15dom`"/>
   </export>
 
 </package>
diff --git a/collada_urdf/manifest.xml b/collada_urdf/manifest.xml
index 604870a..31f728a 100644
--- a/collada_urdf/manifest.xml
+++ b/collada_urdf/manifest.xml
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@
   <url>http://ros.org/wiki/collada_urdf</url>
   <depend package="roscpp" />
   <depend package="urdf" />
-  <depend package="colladadom" />
   <depend package="resource_retriever" />
   <depend package="angles" />
   <depend package="common_rosdeps" />
diff --git a/colladadom/Makefile b/colladadom/Makefile
deleted file mode 100644
index 5bbdd5e..0000000
--- a/colladadom/Makefile
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,46 +0,0 @@
-all: installed
-TARBALL = build/collada-dom-2.2.zip
-TARBALL_URL = http://pr.willowgarage.com/downloads/collada-dom-2.2.zip
-SOURCE_DIR = build/colladadom
-INITIAL_DIR = build/collada-dom
-UNPACK_CMD = unzip
-TARBALL_PATCH = collada-dom.patch mac-x86_64.patch
-MD5SUM_FILE = collada-dom-2.2.zip.md5sum
-
-include $(shell rospack find mk)/download_unpack_build.mk
-
-ROOT = $(shell rospack find colladadom)
-
-# Copied from build/colladadom/dom/Makefile:
-# os: 'linux', 'mac', 'windows', or 'ps3'. Use the 'uname' command to decide the
-# default value. To detect when we're on Windows we'll check to see if we're
-# running on Cygwin or MinGW.
-OS := linux
-ifneq ($(shell uname | grep -i darwin),)
-OS := mac
-else ifneq ($(or $(shell uname | grep -i cygwin),$(shell uname | grep -i mingw)),)
-OS := windows
-endif
-
-installed: wiped $(SOURCE_DIR)/unpacked
-	@echo "ROOT is: $(ROOT)"
-	-mkdir -p $(ROOT)/include
-	-mkdir -p $(ROOT)/lib
-	@echo "making it"
-	cd $(SOURCE_DIR)/dom && make $(ROS_PARALLEL_JOBS)
-	cp -rf $(SOURCE_DIR)/dom/include/* $(ROOT)/include/
-	cp -rf $(SOURCE_DIR)/dom/build/$(OS)-1.5/*.* $(ROOT)/lib/
-	touch installed
-
-wiped: Makefile
-	make wipe
-	touch wiped
-
-clean:
-	-cd $(SOURCE_DIR) && make clean
-	rm -rf $(ROOT)/include $(ROOT)/lib installed
-
-wipe: clean
-	rm -rf build
-
-.PHONY : clean download wipe
diff --git a/colladadom/collada-dom-2.2.zip.md5sum b/colladadom/collada-dom-2.2.zip.md5sum
deleted file mode 100644
index 2ba20f4..0000000
--- a/colladadom/collada-dom-2.2.zip.md5sum
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-bbb76ef2a8037c945c5cdf26829dcb7d  build/collada-dom-2.2.zip
diff --git a/colladadom/collada-dom.patch b/colladadom/collada-dom.patch
deleted file mode 100644
index 6589d0b..0000000
--- a/colladadom/collada-dom.patch
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,116 +0,0 @@
-Index: dom/Makefile
-===================================================================
---- dom/Makefile	2008-10-02 17:48:30.000000000 -0700
-+++ dom/Makefile	2010-03-03 14:44:09.162398249 -0800
-@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@
- conf := release
- 
- # Collada version: '1.4', '1.5', or 'all'
--colladaVersion := 1.4
-+colladaVersion := 1.5
- 
- # parser: 'libxml', 'tinyxml', or 'all'.
- parser := libxml
-@@ -188,7 +188,7 @@
- ifneq ($(filter install uninstall installTest,$(MAKECMDGOALS)),)
- # You can only install on Mac or Linux. Check for that.
- ifeq ($(oss),linux)
--prefix := /usr/local
-+prefix := ../../../
- else ifeq ($(oss),mac)
- prefix := /Library/Frameworks
- else
-Index: dom/make/common.mk
-===================================================================
---- dom/make/common.mk	2008-05-14 17:30:42.000000000 -0700
-+++ dom/make/common.mk	2010-04-07 17:16:11.000000000 -0700
-@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@
- debugSuffix :=
- endif
- 
-+ccFlags += $(shell rosboost-cfg --cflags)
-+
- ifeq ($(os),mac)
- # Add the -arch flags to specify what architectures we're building for.
- ccFlags += $(addprefix -arch ,$(subst x86,i386,$(archs)))
-Index: dom/make/domTest.mk
-===================================================================
---- dom/make/domTest.mk	2008-09-03 08:51:18.000000000 -0700
-+++ dom/make/domTest.mk	2010-04-07 17:17:18.000000000 -0700
-@@ -55,13 +55,7 @@
- endif
- 
- # Boost defs
--ifeq ($(os),linux)
--libOpts += -lboost_filesystem
--else
--includeOpts += -Iexternal-libs/boost
--libOpts += external-libs/boost/lib/$(buildID)/libboost_system.a
--libOpts += external-libs/boost/lib/$(buildID)/libboost_filesystem.a
--endif
-+libOpts += $(shell rosboost-cfg --lflags system,filesystem)
- ifeq ($(os),ps3)
- # PS3 doesn't support C++ locales, so tell boost not to use them
- ccFlags += -DBOOST_NO_STD_LOCALE
-
---- dom/src/dae/daeSIDResolver.cpp
-+++ dom/src/dae/daeSIDResolver.cpp
-@@ -152,6 +152,18 @@
- 	                         list<string>& remainingPart) {
- 		remainingPart.clear();
- 
-+        // custom change for following instance urls (Rosen Diankov)
-+        if ( strncmp( container->getElementName(), "instance_", 9 ) == 0 ) {
-+            daeURI *uri = (daeURI*)container->getAttributeValue("url");
-+            if ( uri != NULL && uri->getElement() != NULL ) {
-+                daeElement *e = findWithDots( uri->getElement(), s, profile, finder, remainingPart );
-+                if ( e != NULL ) {
-+                    //found it
-+                    return e;
-+                }
-+            }
-+        }
-+
- 		// First see if the whole thing resolves correctly
- 		if (daeElement* result = finder(container, s, profile))
- 			return result;
-@@ -355,6 +367,23 @@
- 		if ((!member.empty() || haveArrayIndex1)  &&  result.scalar == NULL)
- 			return daeSidRef::resolveData();
- 
-+        if( !!result.elt && !result.array && !result.scalar ) {
-+            // if newparam, follow its SIDREF (Rosen Diankov)
-+            if( strcmp(result.elt->getElementName(),"newparam") == 0) {
-+                daeElement* psidref = result.elt->getChild("SIDREF");
-+                if( !!psidref ) {
-+                    daeSidRef::resolveData newresult;
-+                    newresult = resolveImpl(daeSidRef(string("./") + psidref->getCharData(),result.elt->getParent(),sidRef.profile));
-+                    if( !newresult.elt ) {
-+                        newresult = resolveImpl(daeSidRef(psidref->getCharData(),result.elt->getParent(),sidRef.profile));
-+                    }
-+                    if( !!newresult.elt ) {
-+                        return newresult;
-+                    }
-+                }
-+            }
-+        }
-+
- 		// SID resolution was successful.
- 		return result;
- 	}
---- dom/test/1.5/domTest.cpp
-+++ dom/test/1.5/domTest.cpp
-@@ -88,11 +88,11 @@
- 
- 
- string lookupTestFile(const string& fileName) {
--	return (dataPath() / fileName).native_file_string();
-+	return (dataPath() / fileName).string();
- }
- 
- string getTmpFile(const string& fileName) {
--	return (tmpPath() / fileName).native_file_string();
-+	return (tmpPath() / fileName).string();
- }
- 
- 
diff --git a/colladadom/mac-x86_64.patch b/colladadom/mac-x86_64.patch
deleted file mode 100644
index 110e4ca..0000000
--- a/colladadom/mac-x86_64.patch
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,92 +0,0 @@
---- dom/external-libs/boost/build/filesystem/Makefile	2008-04-23 19:21:32.000000000 -0500
-+++ dom/external-libs/boost/build/filesystem/Makefile	2011-08-19 17:10:32.000000000 -0500
-@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
- # Mac
- compiler := g++
- linker := ar
--compilerFlags += -arch ppc -arch i386
-+compilerFlags += -arch i386 -arch x86_64
- outPath := mac/
- sources := operations.cpp path.cpp portability.cpp utf8_codecvt_facet.cpp
- else
---- dom/external-libs/boost/build/system/Makefile	2008-04-23 19:21:32.000000000 -0500
-+++ dom/external-libs/boost/build/system/Makefile	2011-08-19 17:11:12.000000000 -0500
-@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
- # Mac
- compiler := g++
- linker := ar
--compilerFlags += -arch ppc -arch i386
-+compilerFlags += -arch x86_64 -arch i386
- outPath := mac/
- else
- # PS3
---- dom/external-libs/tinyxml/build/Makefile	2008-04-23 19:21:32.000000000 -0500
-+++ dom/external-libs/tinyxml/build/Makefile	2011-08-19 17:11:29.000000000 -0500
-@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
- 
- compilerFlags += -Wall -c -O2
- ifeq ($(platform),mac)
--compilerFlags += -arch i386 -arch ppc
-+compilerFlags += -arch i386 -arch x86_64
- endif
- 
- linkerFlags += rcs
---- dom/make/common.mk	2011-08-19 17:57:41.000000000 -0500
-+++ dom/make/common.mk	2011-08-19 17:01:39.000000000 -0500
-@@ -21,7 +21,8 @@
- 
- ifeq ($(os),mac)
- # Add the -arch flags to specify what architectures we're building for.
--ccFlags += $(addprefix -arch ,$(subst x86,i386,$(archs)))
-+# ccFlags += $(addprefix -arch ,$(subst x86,i386,$(archs)))
-+ccFlags += $(addprefix -arch ,x86_64)
- endif
- 
- libOpts :=
---- dom/make/dom.mk	2008-10-09 13:01:48.000000000 -0500
-+++ dom/make/dom.mk	2011-08-19 17:46:27.000000000 -0500
-@@ -31,14 +31,18 @@
- 
- ifneq ($(findstring tinyxml,$(xmlparsers)),)
- ccFlags += -DDOM_INCLUDE_TINYXML
-+ifeq ($(os),mac)
-+libOpts += -ltinyxml
-+else
- includeOpts += -Iexternal-libs/tinyxml/
- libOpts += external-libs/tinyxml/lib/$(buildID)/libtinyxml.a
- endif
-+endif
- 
--ifeq ($(os),linux)
-+ifneq ($(findstring $(os),linux mac),)
- libOpts += -lpcre -lpcrecpp
- else 
--# On Mac, Windows and PS3 we need to be told where to find pcre
-+# On Windows and PS3 we need to be told where to find pcre
- ifeq ($(os),windows)
- ccFlags += -DPCRE_STATIC
- endif
-@@ -52,9 +56,8 @@
- libOpts += external-libs/boost/lib/$(buildID)/libboost_system.a
- libOpts += external-libs/boost/lib/$(buildID)/libboost_filesystem.a
- else ifeq ($(os),mac)
--includeOpts += -Iexternal-libs/boost
--libOpts += external-libs/boost/lib/$(buildID)/libboost_system.a
--libOpts += external-libs/boost/lib/$(buildID)/libboost_filesystem.a
-+libOpts += $(shell rosboost-cfg --libs system)
-+libOpts += $(shell rosboost-cfg --libs filesystem)
- endif
- 
- # minizip
---- rt/make/common.mk	2008-09-04 17:50:38.000000000 -0500
-+++ rt/make/common.mk	2011-08-19 17:12:43.000000000 -0500
-@@ -19,7 +19,8 @@
- 
- ifeq ($(os),mac)
- # Add the -arch flags to specify what architectures we're building for.
--ccFlags += $(addprefix -arch ,$(subst x86,i386,$(archs)))
-+# ccFlags += $(addprefix -arch ,$(subst x86,i386,$(archs)))
-+ccFlags += $(addprefix -arch ,x86_64)
- endif
- 
- libOpts :=
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/colladadom/mainpage.dox b/colladadom/mainpage.dox
deleted file mode 100644
index 386e4a1..0000000
--- a/colladadom/mainpage.dox
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,26 +0,0 @@
-/**
-\mainpage
-\htmlinclude manifest.html
-
-\b colladadom is ... 
-
-<!-- 
-Provide an overview of your package.
--->
-
-
-\section codeapi Code API
-
-<!--
-Provide links to specific auto-generated API documentation within your
-package that is of particular interest to a reader. Doxygen will
-document pretty much every part of your code, so do your best here to
-point the reader to the actual API.
-
-If your codebase is fairly large or has different sets of APIs, you
-should use the doxygen 'group' tag to keep these APIs together. For
-example, the roscpp documentation has 'libros' group.
--->
-
-
-*/
diff --git a/colladadom/manifest.xml b/colladadom/manifest.xml
deleted file mode 100644
index c8aef49..0000000
--- a/colladadom/manifest.xml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,28 +0,0 @@
-<package>
-  <description brief="colladadom">
-
-    This package contains the COLLADA Document Object Model (DOM) which is an API that provides a C++ object representation of a COLLADA XML instance document.
-    Currently, this package pulls collada-dom-2.2 tar ball, and applies a local patch
-    containing
-    some custom changes,
-    various bug fixes as well as
-    forcing configure to use rosboost-cfg for boost compile/link flags.
-
-    See http://sourceforge.net/projects/collada-dom.
-
-  </description>
-  <author>Du Hung Hou, Khronos.org, Marcus Barnes, Greg Corson, Herbert Law, Sebastian Schwarz, Steven Thomas, John Hsu (ros package), Tim Field (ros package)</author>
-  <license>BSD</license>
-  <review status="Doc reviewed" notes=""/>
-  <url>http://ros.org/wiki/colladadom</url>
-  <rosdep name="libxml2"/>
-  <rosdep name="unzip"/>
-  <rosdep name="pcre"/>
-  <export>
-    <cpp lflags="-Wl,-rpath,${prefix}/lib -L${prefix}/lib -lcollada15dom -lminizip -lz `rosboost-cfg --lflags system` `rosboost-cfg --lflags filesystem`" cflags="-I${prefix}/include -I${prefix}/include/1.5 `rosboost-cfg --cflags`"/>
-    <cpp os="osx" lflags="-F${prefix}/lib -framework Collada15Dom" cflags="-I${prefix}/include -I${prefix}/include/1.5"/>
-  </export>
-  <platform os="ubuntu" version="9.04"/>
-  <platform os="ubuntu" version="9.10"/>
-  <platform os="ubuntu" version="10.04"/>
-</package>
diff --git a/urdf/manifest.xml b/urdf/manifest.xml
index bf320f2..8dbb57b 100644
--- a/urdf/manifest.xml
+++ b/urdf/manifest.xml
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@
   <url>http://ros.org/wiki/urdf</url>
 
   <depend package="roscpp" />
-  <depend package="colladadom" />
   <depend package="urdf_parser" />
   <depend package="collada_parser" />