# Combining Controllers using Joystick **URL:** \ **Category:** Support\ **Created:** [July 30, 2026, 6:11pm UTC](https://forums.synfig.org/t/combining-controllers-using-joystick/17210 "2026-07-30T18:11:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Slam](https://forums.synfig.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@Slam](https://forums.synfig.org/u/Slam)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2026, 6:11pm UTC](https://forums.synfig.org/t/combining-controllers-using-joystick/17210/1 "2026-07-30T18:11:40Z")
Ignoring the fact that it seems to mangle my model after the side profile, it says in the Joystick Controller [README](https://github.com/veermetri05/controller-plugin/blob/main/README.md): > […] You can create multiple sliders and combine different poses. > and > …Similar to 5, 7 frame. But the power of slider is that you can combine whatever the value of 3 and 5 frame is. So I’m curious because I have no idea what that last part means.. does that mean I can combine all these sliders? And if so, how? ---
**Author:** ![rodolforg](https://forums.synfig.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/c68b51/32.png) [@rodolforg](https://forums.synfig.org/u/rodolforg)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2026, 8:11pm UTC](https://forums.synfig.org/t/combining-controllers-using-joystick/17210/2 "2026-07-30T20:11:17Z")
@veermetri05 is the author of the plugin, maybe he can help 🙂 But whoever knows, please help him. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![rodolforg](https://forums.synfig.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/c68b51/32.png) [@rodolforg](https://forums.synfig.org/u/rodolforg)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2026, 12:42am UTC](https://forums.synfig.org/t/combining-controllers-using-joystick/17210/3 "2026-07-31T00:42:20Z")
There is a long forum thread here about his plugin: [Joysticks in Synfig (Controller Plugin)](https://forums.synfig.org/t/joysticks-in-synfig-controller-plugin/12317) . ---
**Author:** ![BobSynfig](https://forums.synfig.org/user_avatar/forums.synfig.org/bobsynfig/32/175_2.png) [@BobSynfig](https://forums.synfig.org/u/BobSynfig)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2026, 12:21pm UTC](https://forums.synfig.org/t/combining-controllers-using-joystick/17210/4 "2026-07-31T12:21:49Z")
Joysticks consider 5 waypoints as a default (neutral/center) position and Right, Left, Top, Down. Running the script calculates all the min/max and moving the joystick interpolates. For the sliders, it is a bit different, there is always the first pose/waypoint as a start. Then, for each other waypoint, it is the end of an animation. And for each of them, there will be a slider, using the defined waypoint as the end of the animation. You can combine them. For example, think about a first waypoint as a closed fist. Then you do other waypoints where each of them is an extended finger. Each slider will animate from the closed fist to a specific extended finger, independently. You can do the same with closed and both opened eyes. One waypoint/slider per eye, so you can animated them independentely, with intermediate (tweening) value, instead of using on/off switch layer. Note: it is not compatible with what you expect to do ---
**Author:** ![zainal](https://forums.synfig.org/user_avatar/forums.synfig.org/zainal/32/8504_2.png) [@zainal](https://forums.synfig.org/u/zainal)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2026, 12:07am UTC](https://forums.synfig.org/t/combining-controllers-using-joystick/17210/5 "2026-08-01T00:07:45Z")
@veermetri05 If I may suggest an approach, you could implement `ValueAtTime` using the `Time Loop` converter. This allows the data to be stored as waypoints, with values retrieved at a specific time (`t`) through a controller. You can take a look at how it works in this file: [play\_mode.sif](https://forums.synfig.org/uploads/short-url/msO6ZeXDLZMkEEwsQ88Nh7OMiI.sif) (578.0 KB) [input\_mode.sif](https://forums.synfig.org/uploads/short-url/7ibr42ElC9JrhR4bPXtoUbvP0gf.sif) (103.6 KB) ---
**Author:** ![veermetri05](https://forums.synfig.org/user_avatar/forums.synfig.org/veermetri05/32/6904_2.png) [@veermetri05](https://forums.synfig.org/u/veermetri05)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2026, 2:23pm UTC](https://forums.synfig.org/t/combining-controllers-using-joystick/17210/6 "2026-08-01T14:23:23Z")
@Slam , for the usecase, using a joystick is more suitable. And to answer your question, yes you should be able to combine multiple sliders. What it means is : You have slider1, slider2, now you can create slider3 which controls slider1, slider2. I will attach a small demo, to showcase how I can use joystick for such head turning animation. @zainal , I will take a look into it. Ideally sliders and joystick should control anyway waypoints whose value can be interpolated, so I will take a look at it. ---
**Author:** ![Slam](https://forums.synfig.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@Slam](https://forums.synfig.org/u/Slam)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2026, 10:52am UTC](https://forums.synfig.org/t/combining-controllers-using-joystick/17210/7 "2026-10-10T10:52:20Z")
sorry for the delay getting back to you but these are really interesting examples and while I still don’t fullly understand how they work - I’m very excited to understand it 😃 It’s been mentioned here a few times that you can combine sliders but I’m actually wondering: how do I do that? After I create the sliders, I have 5 of them but how do I actually combine them into one unit? ---
**Author:** ![zainal](https://forums.synfig.org/user_avatar/forums.synfig.org/zainal/32/8504_2.png) [@zainal](https://forums.synfig.org/u/zainal)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2026, 11:20am UTC](https://forums.synfig.org/t/combining-controllers-using-joystick/17210/8 "2026-10-10T11:20:47Z")
My approach is not directly related to the joystick plugin. I’m developing a new plugin with functionality similar to SmartBones in Moho, although some aspects are similar to joystick/sliders controls. You can try out the plugin. It’s still in the testing phase, so you might find some bugs. Feel free to download it and give it a try. > **[GitHub - zaynopenapp/Wayang: synfig plugin controller shapekey](https://github.com/zaynopenapp/Wayang)** > > synfig plugin controller shapekey ---
**Author:** ![Slam](https://forums.synfig.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@Slam](https://forums.synfig.org/u/Slam)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2026, 11:41am UTC](https://forums.synfig.org/t/combining-controllers-using-joystick/17210/9 "2026-10-10T11:41:35Z")
All this week I’ve been trying to figure out how/when I should finally switch to Linux and this plugin just added another important reason to make that switch :') ---
**Author:** ![Slam](https://forums.synfig.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@Slam](https://forums.synfig.org/u/Slam)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2026, 11:50am UTC](https://forums.synfig.org/t/combining-controllers-using-joystick/17210/10 "2026-10-10T11:50:49Z")
Sorry, I should clarify I’m still very interested in understanding how Sliders can be combined. I saw Khemardi’s recent rig build videos and at the end he’s demonstrated how multiple sliders can work together. But he didn’t actually explain how that can be done and I can’t see anything in the documentation. I thought it might be a case of grouping all the controllers and then renaming that group slider\_all or something but that didn’t work so if you could explain how this is done, I would really appreciate it thank you! ---
**Author:** ![rodolforg](https://forums.synfig.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/c68b51/32.png) [@rodolforg](https://forums.synfig.org/u/rodolforg)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2026, 11:32am UTC](https://forums.synfig.org/t/combining-controllers-using-joystick/17210/11 "2026-10-12T11:32:27Z")
Maybe he did one at a time? ---
**Author:** ![Slam](https://forums.synfig.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@Slam](https://forums.synfig.org/u/Slam)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2026, 12:27pm UTC](https://forums.synfig.org/t/combining-controllers-using-joystick/17210/12 "2026-10-12T12:27:45Z")
Apologies, I might be being more vague than I realise because I’m still relatively new to Synfig and my usage and understanding of the terminology (trying to learn it and use it more/better) might not be the best but for example: In the video below, Khemardi has managed to combine several sliders into one at 17:10. Not only that, but he’s also somehow managed to utilise the Sets panel to control each element instead of working from the Layers panel. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/chn8Tt-g8as/maxresdefault.jpg "Synfig for beginners: 140 - Creating a Plant Character - Rig Prep") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chn8Tt-g8as) I’ve tried what (my understanding) is of the solution from the original post on Sliders/Joysticks: Create several Keyframes in a Group while Animate Editing Mode is active, run the plugin, then be presented with (example) 5 sliders. I then group all of them and name them _slider\_id3\_eyes_ but when I run the plugin, it hasn’t merged anything, all the sliders are still seperate. ---
**Author:** ![rodolforg](https://forums.synfig.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/c68b51/32.png) [@rodolforg](https://forums.synfig.org/u/rodolforg)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2026, 1:46pm UTC](https://forums.synfig.org/t/combining-controllers-using-joystick/17210/13 "2026-10-12T13:46:50Z")
The sliders are separated. Create the sliders and joysticks one by one. Then, you use the Layer Set to ‘group’ them. Khemardi made a tutorial about it too. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/HY6Tp-UmT-E/maxresdefault.jpg "Synfig for beginners: 15 - Creating Sets to find layers") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY6Tp-UmT-E) Be careful though, the current development versions have a crash issue when you try to create a shape with a layer set selected o.O I believe now I realize a good way to solve this problem: [fix: crash on creating new layer while Layer Sets Panel is open by rodolforg · Pull Request #2906 · synfig/synfig · GitHub](https://github.com/synfig/synfig/pull/2906) .