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I study the visual cues involved in triggering different flight patterns in flies. The ability of flying insects to change their flight patterns in response to specific stimuli is under strong selection. For predators like long-legged flies responsiveness to a moving target under variable light conditions and background clutter is closely tied to survival, because a fast and accurate reaction might lead to a successful prey capture. This holds true also for non-predatory species, as flight is mostly visually-driven in insects. In the lab we provide flies with different visual stimuli, under several conditions, and use 3D reconstruction methods to characterize their responses in terms of flight patterns. This allows us to understand how complex flight behaviors are elicited from the perspective of visual stimuli.