B roll
Additional footage in a video or edit. Used to cut away from the main footage to give interest.

BAFTA
British Academy of Film and Television Arts; an awards ceremony for film and TV.

bake / bake in
To permanently apply a setting or effect in CG.

banding
A common render error in the colours of a frame or shot when gradients do not appear smoothly causing a distinct or harsh disruption on how the colours appear on screen.

beat
A key moment in the sequence.

beat boards
To sketch out the timing or key moments in a storyboard.

beauty pass
The final renders of shots or turntables are composed of multiple layers overlayed on top of each other to create a final look.

A beauty pass is the layer that has the most detail and is closest to the final look.

beta release / beta testing
A software development term usually pertaining to a release of a product (ticket/tool) to a small group of people before officially releasing it to the rest of production or other projects.

bevel
A modeling term which means adding a slope on the edges of objects so it’s not so sharp.

For example:
Take a look at your desk. On the edges, you’ll notice that it’s designed so that the edges (where the tabletop ends) is smoothened out. The edges of the desk are beveled.

BG / MG / FG
background / mid-ground / foreground

—

background : what we see in the far back or behind the character/object in focus

mid ground : in between the front and back

foreground : area closest to the camera

bids
The assumed length of time to complete a task.

bin
A container; Digitally this could be a folder or directory or part of the software where media file(s) are stored.

bitmap / .bmp
A type of file format for a digital image.

blend shape
Saved out pose or look or shape of a 3D object. It usually comes with controls that enables the artist to shift from one shape to the other in a smooth transition.

Blender
An open source CG software. It’s free to download!

blocking
Staging and rough animation pass to get director approval on the general action in the shot. This prevents wasting time perfecting something in the wrong direction.

bloom
An effect; makes the shot look like it’s overly exposed.

blooper
Behind the scene footage or funny mistakes/renders in the making of the project.

blooper reel
A compilation of bloopers.

blue screen
Blue cloth/background to ease in keying, which helps extract the non-blue objects off of a plate or footage. Covering unwanted areas blue makes it easier for artists to isolate the desired parts of the footage or image and seamlessly integrate a different plate, background, or CG pass.

blue spill
The bit of blue or bounce light reflected on an object in the shot because of the blue screens surrounding them at the time of filming or as seen in the raw plate.

blur / motion blur
A smear effect applied on objects moving rapidly to emulate the same phenomenon in real life.

bokeh
An effect making out of focus objects/light appear as blurry circles

boolean
In modeling, this is the ability to combine geos together, or to “punch a hole” onto another geo using the shape of another geo, or create a new model by calculating where 2 geos overlap.

boom / jib
A camera move : up or down movement

bounce light
The type of light that is reflected off of the surrounding objects in a scene.

Sample:
Holding a red balloon near your face can make your skin appear more red because of the bounce light coming from the red balloon.

BS & P / Broadcast Standards and Practices
Policies that all productions must follow before it is allowed to air.

bug
A problem in the software

bump
(1) In assets, this refers to the dents or unsmoothened surface of an object. Often used in Look Dev to create the illusion of adding detail without the need of further adjusting the object in Modeling.

(2) In production, it is to respond to an existing thread to remind the recipients to respond.

burn in
(1) Details about the current shot such as frame numbers, shot duration, author, description, etc. Customizable to every pipeline and will be different per production/studio.

(2) Exposure to light

(3) In VFX, a note requiring the artist to place an element overtop an existing element or plate. 

For example:
Applying a TV screen burn in by adding an infographic over top of a TV monitor seen in the shot. Or, a custom touchscreen interface on a practical screen or prop.

buzzing
A common note in lighting or comp; a render error when unintended pixels on a frame get picked up and get affected throughout the shot causing distortion in areas and making the sections look like it’s shaking or buzzing.