System and Method for Visualizing Laser Energy Distributions Provided by Different Near Field Scanning Patterns

A system and method may be used to visualize laser energy distributions within one or more laser movements generated by a scanning laser processing head. The system and method determine laser energy distributions at a plurality of locations within the laser movement(s) based at least in part on received laser processing parameters and laser movement parameters. A visual representation of the laser energy distributions may then be displayed to allow the user to visualize and select or define the appropriate pattern and parameters for a laser processing operation. The visualization system and method may be used to predict actual laser energy distributions in a laser processing operation by visualizing the laser energy distributions before the laser processing operation and/or to troubleshoot a laser processing operation by visualizing the laser energy distributions after the laser processing operation.