ClassicCar

Electrolysis; the lysis means splitting, for example of water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen gases. In the case of metals or other materials, you are providing electrons through electrical energy to make a non-spontaneous reaction occur.

Reactions can be spontaneous or non-spontaneous. For the non-spontaneous ones, you need to provide energy, hence you use an electrolysis cell and provide the energy to cause the intended reaction to happen. electrons flow from the anode to the cathode based on the electromotive force of the material involved.

Electroplating; you're moving electrons around which has the effect of causing some metals to become their non-ionized elemental form (metal -- the gain electrons) and they plate out on a substrate (the cathode), whereas the other metals are ionized (lose electrons) and generally go into the solution medium at the anode. Plating occurs at the cathode. Electrons flow from anode to cathode.

So you're really right about what you're doing -- you have metal atoms losing and gaining electrons. Your anode is the sacrificial metal that is "atomized" through ionization which allows the metal atoms to go into the solution medium where they gain electrons and plate out as a metal on the cathode surface (the object you want to chrome plate for example). Triple plating process would involve copper, nickel, and some chromium. Nickel give the shiny "chrome" look while chromium gives the pieces their corrosion resistance. Copper is the underlying metal. The process for doing triple plating would not be spontaneous by just dipping in the solution of the various metals (insufficient electromotive force), so you use the electrolysis cell and provide the needed energy to make the reaction happen.