B

back face

See face.

bit

Binary digit. A state variable that has only two possible values: 0 or 1. Binary numbers are constructions of one or more bits.

bitmap

A rectangular array of bits. Also, the primitive rendered by the glBitmap command, which uses its bitmap parameter as a mask.

bitplane

A rectangular array of bits mapped one-to-one with pixels.

blending

Reducing two color components to one component, usually as a linear interpolation between the two components.

buffer

A group of bitplanes that store a single component (such as depth or green) or a single index (such as the color index or the stencil index). Sometimes the red, green, blue, and alpha buffers together are referred to as the color buffer, rather than the color buffers.