Method and apparatus for determining cutting parameters for a laser cutting machine

An apparatus for machining a workpiece, the apparatus comprising:

• a graphical user interface configured to receive at least one parameter selected from the group consisting of a machine parameter of a laser cutting machine, a process parameter, and a material parameter;
• and said graphical user interface being configured to output properties of a laser-cut edge to be cut by the laser cutting machine, with the properties being able to be influenced by cutting parameters of a given cutting process, and to receive a weighting of the properties specifying how important a given property of the laser-cut edge is in relation to other properties, and the weighting being selected by a user via said graphical user interface;
• said graphical user interface being configured to display a graphical representation of a laser-cut edge in response to receiving the weighting of the properties, the graphical representation being:
• a photograph of a laser-cut edge matching an expected result of the given cutting process with the cutting parameters;
• or
• a graphical representation of the laser-cut edge generated with a data aggregation routine, with the at least one parameter and the cutting parameters forming inputs into the data aggregation routine;
• and
• a computing unit configured to determine the cutting parameters using the at least one parameter and using the weighting of the properties.