In this example, we’ll demonstrate using Beam to deploy a cloud endpoint for OpenAI’s Point-E, a state-of-the-art model for generating 3D objects.

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Setting up the environment

First, you’ll setup your compute environment. You’ll specify:
  • Compute requirements
  • Python packages to install in the runtime
app.py
from beam import App, Runtime, Image, Output, Volume

app = App(
    name="pointe",
    runtime=Runtime(
        cpu=1,
        memory="8Gi",
        gpu="A10G",
        image=Image(
            python_packages=[
                "filelock",
                "Pillow",
                "torch",
                "fire",
                "humanize",
                "requests",
                "tqdm",
                "matplotlib",
                "scikit-image",
                "scipy",
                "numpy",
                "clip@git+https://github.com/openai/CLIP.git",
            ],
        ),
    ),
)

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Generating point clouds

Make sure you’ve cloned the point-e repo into your working directory — otherwise, the point_e imports won’t resolve.
This code is copied directly from this example notebook in the Point-E repo. We’ve only made two modifications:
  • Accept by adding **inputs to the function parameters
  • Replacing the hardcoded prompt with a dynamic prompt you’ll pass down from the API, as inputs["prompt"]

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Deployment

You’ll deploy the app by entering your shell, and running: 
beam deploy app.py

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Calling the API

If you navigate to the link in the last line of the shell output, you’ll be able to login to your Beam web dashboard and view the details of your deployment.
You’ll call the API by pasting in the cURL command displayed in the browser window. 
  curl -X POST --compressed "https://apps.beam.cloud/77n0o" \
   -H 'Authorization: [YOUR_AUTH_TOKEN]' \
   -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
   -d '{"prompt": "a bicycle"}'
Since you’ve deployed a task queue, the API will return a Task ID. 
{"task_id":"774cb94c-05ff-488e-80ab-58a239ce347d"}

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Retrieving outputs

Because this function generates a file output, you’ll need to retrieve it. There are two ways to retrieve outputs:
  • Logging into the dashboard, and viewing the tasks
  • In the API, by querying the /task endpoint.
In the dashboard, you’ll see your output file appear in the Outputs table when the task is completed.
Click the Download icon, and open the file in a 3D viewing software. You’ll see a 3D point cloud generated from your prompt: