A: A 3D, segmented lamina cribrosa reconstruction of a human eye, showing large variation in local connective tissue volume fraction (CTVF) and predominant laminar beam orientations; local CTVF and the fabric tensor HLC were calculated from overlapping conical volumes with discrete center locations, which serve as control points for the mesh-free approach. B: Contour plot of the connective tissue volume fraction in the finite element model of the lamina cribrosa. Red dots represent the control points at which the micro-structure was evaluated. C: First principal directions of the fabric tenor HLC. The color of the principal directions represents the degree of anisotropy. The mesh-free approach leads to a smooth approximation of both, the material parameter nLC and the fabric tensor HLC, across the lamina cribrosa model. The dilation parameter was set to ϱ = 2.0.