the imaging operation the tape is unwound from the supply roll 4 and wound up onto the wind up roll 5 following the imaging operation in a position in which there is no contact between the transfer tape 8 and the substrate 1 a or the substrate cylinder 1 the transfer tape 8 is then wound back again shifted to a track which has not yet been used and is then ready for the next imaging operation the tape is changed only when all the tracks have been used up another refinement relating to multiple use is provided by enlarging the tape coils by means of which a number of imaging operations one after another are then possible this is limited however by the coil size however a combination of the two possibilities proves to be very advantageous since the number of possible imaging operations one after another is multiplied by the number of possible imaging operations alongside one another in order to produce a single color black print a transfer tape with black pigmentation preferably with carbon black particles is needed these particles absorb in particular both in the infrared wavelength range from 800 nm to 860 nm that is possible here for semiconductor laser diodes and in the range around 1060 nm for ndyag and related solid state lasers and are thus equally suitable both as colored pigments and as laser absorbers for colors such as cyan magenta and yellow it is additionally necessary for absorber materials for the laser wavelength.