A scanning laser projector, comprising: at least one source (102, 705-710) of laser light, the at least one source (102, 705-710) of laser light configured to generate a laser beam; at least one scanning mirror (104, 724, 816) configured to reflect the laser beam; a drive circuit (106, 720) configured to provide an excitation signal to excite motion of the at least one scanning mirror (104, 724, 816) to reflect the laser beam in a pattern (114, 300, 304, 308, 410, 726) of scan lines; a pixel drive generator (101, 704), the pixel drive generator (101, 704) configured to control the at least one source (102, 705-710) of laser light to selectively generate projected image pixels with the laser beam and selectively generate depth mapping pulses with the laser beam, and wherein the pixel drive generator (101, 704) is configured to generate projected image pixels during a first portion of the pattern (114, 300, 304, 308, 410, 726) of scan lines and generate depth mapping pulses during a second portion of the pattern (114, 300, 304, 308, 410, 726) of scan lines; and a depth mapping device (200, 740) configured to receive reflections of the depth mapping pulses from a surface and generate a 3-dimensional point cloud of the surface based at least in part on timing of the received reflections of the depth mapping pulses from the surface; characterized in that: the generated projected image pixels are temporally separated from the generated depth mapping pulses so that the generated projected image pixels do not temporally overlap with the generated depth mapping pulses; wherein: (i) the first portion of the pattern (114, 300, 304, 308, 410, 726) of scan lines comprises horizontal scan lines moving in a first direction and the second portion of the pattern (114, 300, 304, 308, 410, 726) of scan lines comprises horizontal scan lines moving in a second direction, where the first direction and the second direction are opposite directions, or (ii) the first portion of the pattern (114, 300, 304, 308, 410, 726) of scan lines comprises scan lines during an active display period and the second portion of the pattern (114, 300, 304, 308, 410, 726) of scan lines comprises scan lines during a vertical retrace period. at least one source (102, 705-710) of laser light, the at least one source (102, 705-710) of laser light configured to generate a laser beam; at least one scanning mirror (104, 724, 816) configured to reflect the laser beam; a drive circuit (106, 720) configured to provide an excitation signal to excite motion of the at least one scanning mirror (104, 724, 816) to reflect the laser beam in a pattern (114, 300, 304, 308, 410, 726) of scan lines; a pixel drive generator (101, 704), the pixel drive generator (101, 704) configured to control the at least one source (102, 705-710) of laser light to selectively generate projected image pixels with the laser beam and selectively generate depth mapping pulses with the laser beam, and wherein the pixel drive generator (101, 704) is configured to generate projected image pixels during a first portion of the pattern (114, 300, 304, 308, 410, 726) of scan lines and generate depth mapping pulses during a second portion of the pattern (114, 300, 304, 308, 410, 726) of scan lines; and a depth mapping device (200, 740) configured to receive reflections of the depth mapping pulses from a surface and generate a 3-dimensional point cloud of the surface based at least in part on timing of the received reflections of the depth mapping pulses from the surface; characterized in that: the generated projected image pixels are temporally separated from the generated depth mapping pulses so that the generated projected image pixels do not temporally overlap with the generated depth mapping pulses; wherein: (i) the first portion of the pattern (114, 300, 304, 308, 410, 726) of scan lines comprises horizontal scan lines moving in a first direction and the second portion of the pattern (114, 300, 304, 308, 410, 726) of scan lines comprises horizontal scan lines moving in a second direction, where the first direction and the second direction are opposite directions, or (ii) the first portion of the pattern (114, 300, 304, 308, 410, 726) of scan lines comprises scan lines during an active display period and the second portion of the pattern (114, 300, 304, 308, 410, 726) of scan lines comprises scan lines during a vertical retrace period. (i) the first portion of the pattern (114, 300, 304, 308, 410, 726) of scan lines comprises horizontal scan lines moving in a first direction and the second portion of the pattern (114, 300, 304, 308, 410, 726) of scan lines comprises horizontal scan lines moving in a second direction, where the first direction and the second direction are opposite directions, or (ii) the first portion of the pattern (114, 300, 304, 308, 410, 726) of scan lines comprises scan lines during an active display period and the second portion of the pattern (114, 300, 304, 308, 410, 726) of scan lines comprises scan lines during a vertical retrace period.