How metal-plating on plastics is performed?
I couldn't comment on the name.
I am familiar with vacuum deposition, but i have only come across deposition on silicon, not plastic. the substrate ad metal are put in a vacuum chamber, the vacuum means that now the metal can be evaporated at a much lower temperature, and is then deposited onto the substrate.(see link)

I did an experiment of electroless plating of plastic with nickel. I can't say what plastic it was, probably PS or PP. usually electro plating requires electrodes and current to flow between them. electroless plating uses a electrochemical reaction in which a metal precipitates. Due to the treatment of the plastic the metal prefers to precipitate onto the plastic (this is a very simplistic information see liks for more information if you're interested)

the method I used in my experiment:
the plastic is cleaned by diping it in a base bath (sodium carbonate, trisodium phosphate, sodium hydroxide), this is mostly to remove oily debris .


Etching: ...etches the plastic to create microscopic pores that improve
adhesion of metal and following steps 
Sensibilization: plastic is
dipped in ti solution, keeps the palladium at its reduced state (next
step)
Activation: plastic is dipped in a palladium solution, Palladium
catalyses the formation of nickel particles. 
Plating: since there is no current flowing another particle has to be oxidized for the nickel to be reduced. in this case the reaction used is oxidation of  hypophosphite to phosphite


The result was a very nice metallic finish.

more information:


Electroless nickel plating on Wikipedia 
plating kit 
plenty of information on electroless deposition
evaporation-deposition