A scanned beam projector, comprising: a laser diode configured to emit a beam ; a scanning engine configured to scan the beam on a surface to project an image on the surface , the image being formed by beam pulses at virtual pixels located at respective intended pixel positions and having respective time periods; a digital-to-analog converter, DAC , coupled to the laser diode and configured to cause the laser diode to emit the beam in response to a digital video signal provided to the DAC ; and a pulsed pixel controller configured to provide the digital video signal to the DAC and to align the digital video signal provided to the DAC with the virtual pixels of the image , wherein the pulsed pixel controller comprises an energy duty cycle selector configured to select respective waveforms to be generated by the laser diode for the beam pulses at the virtual pixels according to a waveform selection scheme based on desired optical energies and the time periods of the respective virtual pixels, characterized in that the waveform selection scheme comprises, for a constant desired optical energy of the beam pulses : for a first region defining a range of virtual pixel time periods for said constant desired optical energy, selecting waveforms such that the beam pulses increase in width and decrease in amplitude with increasing time period, and for a second region defining virtual pixel time periods for said constant desired optical energy which are longer than said range of time periods, selecting waveforms such that the beam pulses have a constant width and a constant amplitude selected to maximize off-time of the laser diode while maintaining sufficient pixel energy. a laser diode configured to emit a beam ; a scanning engine configured to scan the beam on a surface to project an image on the surface , the image being formed by beam pulses at virtual pixels located at respective intended pixel positions and having respective time periods; a digital-to-analog converter, DAC , coupled to the laser diode and configured to cause the laser diode to emit the beam in response to a digital video signal provided to the DAC ; and a pulsed pixel controller configured to provide the digital video signal to the DAC and to align the digital video signal provided to the DAC with the virtual pixels of the image , wherein the pulsed pixel controller comprises an energy duty cycle selector configured to select respective waveforms to be generated by the laser diode for the beam pulses at the virtual pixels according to a waveform selection scheme based on desired optical energies and the time periods of the respective virtual pixels, characterized in that the waveform selection scheme comprises, for a constant desired optical energy of the beam pulses : for a first region defining a range of virtual pixel time periods for said constant desired optical energy, selecting waveforms such that the beam pulses increase in width and decrease in amplitude with increasing time period, and for a second region defining virtual pixel time periods for said constant desired optical energy which are longer than said range of time periods, selecting waveforms such that the beam pulses have a constant width and a constant amplitude selected to maximize off-time of the laser diode while maintaining sufficient pixel energy. for a first region defining a range of virtual pixel time periods for said constant desired optical energy, selecting waveforms such that the beam pulses increase in width and decrease in amplitude with increasing time period, and for a second region defining virtual pixel time periods for said constant desired optical energy which are longer than said range of time periods, selecting waveforms such that the beam pulses have a constant width and a constant amplitude selected to maximize off-time of the laser diode while maintaining sufficient pixel energy. <EOS>