the printing surface contains a plurality of ink cells 12 as illustrated in fig1 fig4 illustrates an uv controlled cell each cell contains an individually controlled uv led 41 controller 42 and power supply 43 once the ink is loaded on the printing surface the uv leds are turned on to modify the sensitive material in the ink the ink that has the higher affinity to the substrate is transferred to it and the ink with the lower affinity is either returned to the printing system if it is still usable or discarded with uv curable inks the uv led 41 will cure the ink in the cell and only the uncured ink will transfer to the substrate the cured ink will be removed from the printing surface before each printing cycle possibly by air pressure as described below the transferred ink will be cured later by uv lamps further down the printing line the ink properties can also be controlled externally to the printing surface 51 as shown in fig5 the uv ink is controlled by an external uv projection or laser head 54 which exposes the ink prior to its contact with the substrate 55 the excess ink is removed with a doctor blade 53 and the ink is loaded to the printing surface again by a device such as an anilox roller 52 in another embodiment for ink modification an ink containing a ferromagnetic material is used such as http www maxmax com amagneticink asp the printing surface is covered with ink cells containing micro electromagnets or magnetic whiskers the electromagnets in the ink cells are controlled individually the affinity of the ink to the printing surface is controlled by the electromagnet.