Here is a quick way to make a metal nameplate that looks like a photo-anodized one.
Prepare a piece of metal, say brass or aluminum- cut to size, clean or polish surface. Then make a decal using clear inkjet decal paper, the size of your metal piece. Use only two colors, black and white. The white areas will not print at all, leaving clear decal in that area, the black area prints and looks like photo-anodize.
Usually it looks best with clear letters and black background, maybe with a clear rectange just inside of the plate edges. Some graphics programs allow you to invert colors, so you can just type black letters on white background, then invert. On simpler graphics programs, just set the background to black and the lettering to white.
One can also use blue and white- some photo-anodized plates used with aluminum use blue background with aluminum letters.
I have even made decal on metal plates that do simulate etched nameplates, by using thin gray lines on lettering and designs.