Is there a way to interact with the objects?

Hi, I make simple cartoons for You Tube. I used to do it in After Effects but recently I decided to try Character Animator. Now I have a few big problems. Is there a way to easily interact with the objects in the scene? In AE I simply moved my puppet arm towards specific object, then used Pick Whip to connect arm with the object and that was it. My puppet held that object. Quick and easy. In Character Animator I guess I can't do it the same way. Or maybe there is a way? Please help me I saw Okay Samurai tutorial about that topic and the answer was to make in Photoshop a hand already holding the object and use trigger in Character Animator to use that hand in proper place and time. That seems a lot of work when you dealing with story based cartoon with lot of movement, action and so on. Especially when you make it(like I do) on the spot. I would be very happy with any help in that aspect ALSO (another big problem) how do I make my puppet, for example, jump in the air? I have a problem even moving my puppet, since I can't click on my character and move it from place to place (like I did in AE). If you read this Okay Samurai, maybe you could do a tutorial that deals with a more complex animation problems? Walking without "walking cycle", jumping etc. I used to do a 1:30 min animation in 6-8h (AE) but with Character Animator that time may be even longer !!   And i want something totally oposite

sorry for my english