Virtual axis extension

A method for computing a machining toolpath applied for laser machining process, in which a laser beam is emitted by a laser head (12) installed in a laser machine tool (10) for ablating the material of a part (1) for forming a pattern thereon comprising:

• a. obtaining part data defining the geometry of the part;
• b. obtaining image data defining the pattern to be machined on the part by ablating the material of the part;
• c. obtaining a specified machine stroke defining the maximum movement of one axis of the machine tool;
• d. obtaining part positioning data defining the position of the part to be mounted in the machining area of the machine tool;
• and
• e. computing the machining toolpath based on the part data, the image data, the part positioning data and the specified machine stroke by a computer, wherein the machining toolpath includes a plurality of laser head positions.