How to Pick Up Objects in Blender Using Child Of Constraint

Using the Child Of constraint in Blender allows an object to follow the movement of another object or character bone dynamically during an animation. This step-by-step guide covers how to attach an object to a character's hand, control when the pickup happens by keyframing constraint influence, and ensure the object stays in place when dropped without jumping across the scene.

Step 1: Add the Child Of Constraint

  1. Select the target object you want to pick up (e.g., a prop, cup, or sword).
  2. Go to the Object Constraint Properties tab in the Sidebar panel (represented by a blue link icon).
  3. Click Add Object Constraint and select Child Of.
  4. In the Target field, select your character's armature or parent object.
  5. If using an armature, select the specific bone holding the object in the Bone field (e.g., hand.R).

Step 2: Fix the Object Position

Adding the constraint often causes the object to jump to a new location.

  1. On the Child Of constraint panel, click the Set Inverse button.
  2. This resets the object back to its original world location while keeping the parenting relationship active.

Step 3: Animate the Pickup

To make the character pick up the object at a specific point in time, you must keyframe the Influence slider on the constraint.

  1. Scrub the timeline to the frame just before the hand touches the object.
  2. Set the constraint Influence to 0.0.
  3. Click the small dot/keyframe button next to the Influence slider (or hover over the slider and press I).
  4. Advance the timeline by 1 frame (the frame where the hand grabs the object).
  5. Change the Influence to 1.0 and insert another keyframe.

From this frame forward, moving the hand bone will move the object automatically.

Step 4: Animate Dropping the Object

When dropping an object, setting influence back to 0.0 causes the object to snap back to its original starting position. Follow these steps to release it cleanly in its current location:

  1. Move to the frame where the character releases the object.
  2. Insert a keyframe on the Influence slider at 1.0.
  3. Advance by 1 frame.
  4. With the object selected, press Object > Apply > Visual Transform (or press Ctrl + A and select Visual Transform). This bakes the object's current animated position to its actual location transform.
  5. Keyframe the object's Location and Rotation (press I > Location & Rotation).
  6. Set the Child Of constraint Influence to 0.0 and insert a keyframe.

The object is now detached from the character and remains where it was released.