In modem manufacturing, many products that have geometrically complicated features, including three-dimensional sculptured surfaces, are designed and produced. In the production of these complex-shaped mechanical components, e.g. automobile dies, molds, and various engineering applications, the ball-end milling process is one of the most widely used NC machining processes that consists of roughing, semi-finishing and finishing. In semi-finishing, cusps remained after roughing according to the used tools that have two patterns of stairs and wave shapes. These cusp shapes have air-cut in cutting and instability caused by high cutting speed that affects the cutting characteristics such as cutting force and tool wear. Cutting characteristics are measured and analyzed through cutting force, FFT analysis of cutting force and tool wear along cutting length according to low tool paths with same metal removal rate. As a results of the experiments, this study suggests the optimal conditions of tool path and cutting direction. This approach for the cutting characteristics of semi-finishing provides a useful aid for the productivity and efficiency improvements of NC machining processes.