PBR
Also said as Physically based rendering, Metalness and roughness, Physically based shading
Shading materials by rules of real light, usually described with two main numbers: how rough a surface is and whether it is metal. Because the material is described and not painted, it looks right under any light.
Before it, artists faked highlights to suit one lighting setup, and the fake fell apart in the next room. With PBR, one material works everywhere, and artists across a team get consistent results.
Say it
“Use PBR with metalness and roughness. Rusty iron is metal at 0.9 and roughness at 0.7, polished stone is metal at 0 and roughness at 0.2, and no one paints highlights into textures.”
Where you’ve seen it
Brent Burley's Disney paper of 2012 set out the artist-friendly model for Wreck-It Ralph, and games followed: Ready at Dawn built The Order: 1886 on a physically based pipeline, presented at SIGGRAPH in 2013.
Not to be confused with realism
PBR describes how light behaves, not what the art looks like. Cartoon worlds use it too. It is a rule set, not a style.