Planning method for processing a 2D element into a 3D final element

A computer-implemented method for planning laser processing of at least one metal element into at least one final element, the method comprising:

• providing an element model of a metal element to be processed, wherein the element model has at least a first surface,
• providing a final model of the final element,
• projecting the final model onto the first surface of the element model,
• determining a plurality of processing steps, the total number of processing steps being n, wherein the processing steps comprise:
• identifying a base structure of the element model,
• identifying at least one processing structure of the element model,
• identifying a plurality of connections between the base structure, the at least one processing structure and any non-process sections of the element model,
• identifying the laser processing to use, in order to process the element model into the final model, the laser processing comprising at least one of a laser cutting process, a laser bending process and a laser forming process, the total number of laser processes to be used being p,
• generating laser process specifications for each of the laser processes p,
• generating a first set of instructions for processing the element model into the final model, based on the plurality of processing steps n, and
• providing a process conversion table, the process conversion table comprising conversion methods to substitute traditional processing methods into laser processing methods and wherein a traditional processing plan for the final model can be converted into the laser processing steps p, for processing the element model into the final element, by laser processing.