diff --git a/modules/gfx/src/impl/cartoon_renderer.cc b/modules/gfx/src/impl/cartoon_renderer.cc
index 00894483df3e7c0e3433463810fb403a80a84a46..3dfedd48460b8ca116341a6b4b5d2aab8ab7696b 100644
--- a/modules/gfx/src/impl/cartoon_renderer.cc
+++ b/modules/gfx/src/impl/cartoon_renderer.cc
@@ -476,11 +476,14 @@ TraceProfile CartoonRenderer::transform_and_add_profile(const std::vector<TraceP
 
 namespace {
 
+  /*
+  commented out to silence compiler warning, as it is not needed anywhere
   float spread(const geom::Vec3& v1, geom::Vec3& v2, geom::Vec3& v3, geom::Vec3& v4)
   {
     return geom::Dot(geom::Normalize(geom::Cross(geom::Normalize(v3-v1),geom::Normalize(v2-v1))),
 		     geom::Normalize(geom::Cross(geom::Normalize(v3-v4),geom::Normalize(v2-v4))));
   }
+  */
 
 }