The surface energies on 12 different planes of Cu crystal have been calculated with modified embedded-atom method. The results show that the lowest surface ener gy, as predicted, corresponds to the close-packed plane (111) of face-centered c ubic (FCC) structure. The surface energies on other planes show a tendency to in crease with increasing angle between the planes and (111) plane. So the relative values in surface energy for other planes could be estimated by their geometric relationship. The geometric structure factors and the methods applied to determ ine them could be used directly for surface energy and other property calculatio ns in the materials with FCC structure. The (111) texture observed extensively i n Cu, Ag and other FCC films results from the surface energy minimization.