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About

Since he first put hands on a PC, Catalin knew he wanted to become a programmer, and more so, he knew he wanted to some day create games. The first steps were done in Pascal, followed by a few very small games in Visual Basic.Transition to 3D was done through OpenGL, used over a few years in several languages (C++, Delphi, Visual Basic and Java), and several games came forth. Neither were released for anyone else besides friends and teachers, but the best on the list would include a small RPG, a side-scroller, and a 3D card game made together with some friends. Later, he moved on to Managed DirectX. The excitement of using C# together with Direct3D was soon boosted by news of an upcoming technology from Microsoft named XNA.

Catalin has been involved with XNA Game Studio and the XNA Framework since the first beta version was released on August 30th 2006. In a very short time, he was hooked to XNA Game Studio, and to the great community that gathered around this product. Involvement began with some small samples, showing how one could use Vertex Texture Fetch, and a component that could be used to draw a .swm model (a popular model format in the first beta days ;) ). Soon the www.Xbox360Homebrew.com game competition began, followed by DreamBuildPlay. During these competitions, Quantum Wars, Butterfly Paradise and Dream Sower were developed. The bonds with the community strengthened, and now Catalin is an active member of the Creator’s Club Forums, a regular on #xna (Efnet), and likes to write articles and samples related to XNA.

In April 1st 2008, Catalin was named Microsoft DirectX/XNA Most Valuable Professional for his activity with the XNA community. The title was further renewed on April 1st 2009 and 2010.

20 Comments so far »

  1. by scott vallee, on 04.11.08 @ 2:04 am

    Hey Catalin,

    We came across your website and thought you might be interested in some quick facts about the MVP Summit, the program and the impact the MVP community has had on Microsoft. With the summit quickly approaching, we thought you might like to have some of these data points the significant role MVPs play.
    • Worldwide there are more than 100 million participants in technical communities.
    • Of these participants there are only 4,000 MVPs located across 93 countries, spanning more than 30 languages and more than 90 Microsoft technologies.
    • There has been a 10 percent to 15 percent MVP audience growth in countries such as China, Russia and Korea.
    • Over the past few years new regions with MVPs include the Republic of Congo, Ghana, Nepal, Macedonia and Macao
    • In recent years, a handful of MVPs have been awarded in new categories such as MSN, Xbox, Visual Studio Tools for Office, Microsoft Dynamics and Visual Studio Team System.
    • MVPs are a diverse group that includes accountants, teachers, artists, government workers, engineers and technologists.

    Let us know if you are interested in any specific insights into the impact MVPs have had on various Microsoft technologies and if you would like any more information about the Summit for your blog.

    Best,
    Scott

  2. by Catalin Zima, on 04.14.08 @ 9:00 am

    Thanks for that information. I will post a longer story about the summit and what it means; after it’s done, since right now I don’t have much time, going from building to building :)

    thanks

  3. by Fulvio, on 07.25.08 @ 3:17 am

    Hi, I was seing your blog… you have all so clear… congratulations.
    I am starting with XNA and it amazing. I want to ask you if you have a paper o know a website where I could read about how could I do collision with a surface and an object. Like if a ball fall down into floor, the program detect the collision I don’t know how could I do that.
    Thanks for your help!

  4. by Catalin Zima, on 07.29.08 @ 11:28 pm

    There are some articles on http://www.ziggyware.com on collision. just go there, and use the search function, searching for “collision detection”, and you should find some.

  5. by Robert Muresan, on 11.08.08 @ 4:39 pm

    Nice work!
    I have attended your recent XNA presentation at the UTCN.
    I am contemplating with the idea of going back to 3D game development and the XNA looks like a good starting point.

    Keep up the good work.

  6. by Catalin Zima, on 11.08.08 @ 10:48 pm

    Hi, Robert

    I’m glad to hear people looking into XNA. If there’s anything I can do, let me know.

  7. by CJ, on 03.10.09 @ 5:38 pm

    Hi,
    I am impressed with your XNA skills. Would you like a joint venture in developing some XNA niche products? Please let me know. :)

  8. by wang dong, on 03.11.09 @ 12:56 pm

    Thans for your contribution?

    I have a question ?

    In my computor, when I double click the *.sln file, a diagbox is poped-up ,showing that the *.csproj cannot be opend and the project type is not supported by this installation.

    My compile enviroment is Microsoft studio 2005, XNA Game Studio 2.0.

    I have another XNA 2.0 demo project,and it is OK.

  9. by wang dong, on 03.11.09 @ 12:59 pm

    How to do large terrain rendering using VTF (vertex terrain fetch) ?

    I want to use terrain block menthod,not the geometry clipmap ?

    Can you give me some suggestion?

  10. by Catalin Zima, on 03.13.09 @ 10:58 pm

    @wang dong: some of my samples are written in XNA 1.0, some in 2.0, and some in 3.0. Here’s how to detect the version of an XNA project: http://www.thezbuffer.com/articles/541.aspx
    There are tools on creators.xna.com to convert older versions to new versions.

    I’m not exactly familiar with “terrain block method”, so I’m afraid I can’t help you.

  11. by wang dong, on 03.14.09 @ 4:57 pm

    Thanks , I will try .

  12. by wang dong, on 04.07.09 @ 1:41 pm

    I am instrested in your excellent tutor -”Four uses of Vertex Textures”.

    But I still couldnot open any solution in the tutor.

    Are that examples written in XNA2.0?

    I have seen the the link you told me.

    I opened the StepsInSnow project ,showing that
    Microsoft Visual Studio Solution File, Format Version 9.00
    # Visual C# Express 2005
    Project(“{FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC}”) = “StepsInSnow”, “StepsInSnow\StepsInSnow.csproj”, “{76747980-2B82-40F1-B95E-5A8F100B00B3}”
    EndProject

    I have setuped Microsoft Visual C# 2005 and XNA Game Studio 2.0. I have another XNA 2.0 project,and I can open it correctly.

    I need your help .Thanks a lot!

  13. by Catalin Zima, on 04.07.09 @ 8:51 pm

    Those are in XNA 1.0

  14. by wang dong, on 04.08.09 @ 11:03 am

    Thanks.
    XNA Game Studio Express 1.0 Refresh requires that Visual C# 2005 Express Edition Service Pack 1 (SP1) be installed. I download the SP1

    Visual C# 2005 Express Edition SP1 – download the file named VS80sp1-KB926749-X86-INTL.exe.

    But I could not update because I don’t have Visual studio 2005 Express Edition.

    So I want to download Visual c# 2005 Express Edition,but they were absent.

    Because I am very unformalir with XNA Programming, So Can you give me the project of XNA 2.0 version. My email address is wangdongxy@hotmail.com

    Thanks!

  15. by Catalin Zima, on 04.08.09 @ 11:46 am

    You can use the Project converter on XNA.com: http://creators.xna.com/en-US/utilities/project_upgrade_wizard

  16. by wang dong, on 04.08.09 @ 3:04 pm

    I have download the UpgradeWizardSetup.msi file.
    After I upgrade the Chapter 4 Steps in Snow solution ,there are still some errors.

    —— Rebuild All started: Project: UpgradedGame2, Configuration: Debug x86 ——
    Building Content\dude.fbx -> bin\x86\Debug\Content\dude.xnb
    Content\dude.fbx : error : Cannot find content processor “SkinnedModelProcessor”.
    Done building project “Content.contentproj” — FAILED.
    ========== Rebuild All: 0 succeeded, 1 failed, 0 skipped ==========

    Because I am very new to XNA programming. How to resolve that problem ? Can you tell me detailed steps to make it success.

  17. by wang dong, on 04.09.09 @ 8:17 am

    I downloaded Visual c# 2005 Express Edition,then setup SP1 ,then setup XNA 1.0 refresh..

    Today morning I opened the solution succeffully.

    Thank you ! I appreciate your patient help.

  18. by Florin, on 03.05.10 @ 10:15 am

    Nice to see that a Romanian is XNA MVP :) !!
    Felicitari!!!

    Game programming is my hobby since childhood, so I think I will give XNA a try, in my spare time. :)

  19. by cem, on 04.08.10 @ 12:24 am

    Hey Catalin,
    Your tutorials have helped me much, they’re great.
    Have you ever planned on releasing a book for XNA?
    I would very much appreciate that!

  20. by Catalin Zima, on 04.08.10 @ 8:38 am

    I would very much like to write a book for XNA :) but I’d need a publisher for that.

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