A system for determining the distance between a known point in three-dimensional space and a point of interest on a surface of an object, the system comprising: a sensor having first and second sensor pixels to receive light from the surface; a filter to allow transmission of full spectrum light to the first sensor pixel and visible light to the second sensor pixel while preventing transmission of infrared light to the second sensor pixel; and a processor (406, 604) to analyze the full spectrum light and the visible light to determine the distance, wherein the filter is disposed between the sensor and the surface, the system further comprising: a spatially modulated light projection device to project light comprising infrared light and visible light toward the surface, wherein the light is reflected from the surface toward the sensor; and an actuator to control spatial modulation of the light projection device and to receive light information from the sensor, the actuator being configured to control spatial modulation of the light projection device to form a dynamic pattern formed by time sequentially switching between two patterns so as to form intersections (304, 304', 304") of two intersecting line segments on the surface, wherein the processor (406, 604) analyzes the light reflected from the surface to determine the distance between a point of interest of the surface constituted by one of the intersections (304, 304', 304") and the sensor. a sensor having first and second sensor pixels to receive light from the surface; a filter to allow transmission of full spectrum light to the first sensor pixel and visible light to the second sensor pixel while preventing transmission of infrared light to the second sensor pixel; and a processor (406, 604) to analyze the full spectrum light and the visible light to determine the distance, wherein the filter is disposed between the sensor and the surface, the system further comprising: a spatially modulated light projection device to project light comprising infrared light and visible light toward the surface, wherein the light is reflected from the surface toward the sensor; and an actuator to control spatial modulation of the light projection device and to receive light information from the sensor, the actuator being configured to control spatial modulation of the light projection device to form a dynamic pattern formed by time sequentially switching between two patterns so as to form intersections (304, 304', 304") of two intersecting line segments on the surface, wherein the processor (406, 604) analyzes the light reflected from the surface to determine the distance between a point of interest of the surface constituted by one of the intersections (304, 304', 304") and the sensor. a spatially modulated light projection device to project light comprising infrared light and visible light toward the surface, wherein the light is reflected from the surface toward the sensor; and an actuator to control spatial modulation of the light projection device and to receive light information from the sensor, the actuator being configured to control spatial modulation of the light projection device to form a dynamic pattern formed by time sequentially switching between two patterns so as to form intersections (304, 304', 304") of two intersecting line segments on the surface, wherein the processor (406, 604) analyzes the light reflected from the surface to determine the distance between a point of interest of the surface constituted by one of the intersections (304, 304', 304") and the sensor.