AlSi12 is a heat-resistant aluminum alloy that is lightweight, corrosion-resistant, machinable and attracting attention as a functional material in aerospace and automotive industries. For that reason, AlSi12 powder has been used for high performance parts through 3D printing technology. The purpose of this study is to observe deposition characteristics of AlSi12 powder in a direct energy deposition (DED) process (one of the metal 3D printing technologies). In this study, deposition characteristics were investigated according to various process parameters such as laser power, powder feed rate, scan speed, and slicing layer thickness. In the single track deposition experiment, an irregular bead shape and balling or humping of molten metal were formed below a laser power of 1,000 W, and the good-shaped bead was obtained at 1.0 g/min powder feed rate. Similar results were observed in multi-layer deposition. Observation of deposited height after multi-layer deposition revealed that over-deposition occurred at all conditions. To prevent over-deposition, slicing layer thickness was experimentally determined at given conditions. From these results, this study presented practical conditions for good surface quality and accurate geometry of deposits.