Part deposition orientation is very important factor of layered manufacturing as it effects build time, support structure, dimensional accuracy, surface finish and cost of the prototype. A number of layered manufacturing process specific parameters and constraints have to be considered while deciding the part deposition orientation. Determination of an optimal part deposition orientation is a difficult and time consuming task as one has to trade-off among various contradicting objectives like part surface finish and build time. This paper describes and compares various attempts made to determine part deposition orientation. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.