An IClippedSurface is a specific type of ISurfacePatch in which the ISurface for both the patch itself and its ISurfacePatch.BackingSurface is the same, but where the solutions to spatial queries against the ISurfacePatch itself are constrained by spatial constraints characterized as TClippers.

The canonical (and most instructive) example of a TClipper is BoundsClipper, which confines solutions to spatial queries against an ISurface to an allowable region within certain spatial bounds; results outside of these bounds will either be rejected outright (for example, for ISurface.Raycast(in UnityEngine.Ray, out SurfaceHit, float) queries) or "clamped" to within the acceptable region (for example, for ISurface.ClosestSurfacePoint(in UnityEngine.Vector3, out SurfaceHit, float) queries). In this way, an IClippedSurface can be thought of as a larger surface which has been trimmed down or "clipped" to a subsection.