Successful application of optical heating for growth of controlled structures of metallic materials by means of floating-zone technique is demonstrated for examples of oriented single crystals and tricrystals of an Fe–Si alloy, and coarse grained multicrystals of FeAl intermetallics and NiTi shape memory alloy. The results show the big advantage of the use of optical heating for visual check of the behavior of the molten zone and its controlled changes during the growth process.