My Experience with Hugging Face
The Truth About Hugging Face’s API | Expectations vs. Reality
My Journey with Hugging Face: Surprises, Setbacks, and Silver Linings🤖✨
Friend, if you're here, you're probably one of those who have heard amazing things about Hugging Face, that platform that seems to have it all: open-source models, accessible and easy to integrate. Well, let me tell you about my experience, because while it’s not entirely negative, it has its ups and downs. And if by the end of this you feel like we’ve sat down with a coffee ☕ to rant and laugh 😂 at our misfortunes, then I’ve done my job well.
When Everything Starts Off Well 🌟
It all started one day when I stumbled upon Facebook's "vfusion3d", a model that generates 3D models from a simple image. Yes, just as you heard, 3D from an image! 🖼️➡️🌀 Imagine my excitement when I discovered it, because it aligned perfectly with a personal project I had in mind. The idea was simple: I didn’t want to complicate my life, so I looked to see if Hugging Face had any API to help me integrate it quickly and easily.
Why not? Weeks earlier, I had seen a tutorial from a YouTuber 🎥 who used a Hugging Face API to make server requests and convert images to text. So, confidently, I started researching how I could do the same. 🧐
The First Obstacle: Hidden Limitations 🚧
The first thing I did was test with a simpler model, one that returned texture images from text or images: "gvecchio/StableMaterials". Everything was going well until, like a pebble in my shoe 👟, I ran into a notice that left me cold: “Inference API (serverless) has been turned off for this model.” 😨
Wow! That was the first slap. 🖐️ Really? I thought I had found something revolutionary, but it seemed it wasn’t that simple. And it wasn’t just that model; as I researched further, I noticed a pattern: most models have three major limitations when you’re looking for something free and simple:
Not all are enabled for free use. 💰🚫
Few can be integrated from the frontend. 🖥️❌
Some require payments or are simply not enabled in the Inference API. 🔐
The Frustration Grows 😤
I confess, it made me angry, the kind of anger that makes you huff at the screen. 😡💻 Seeing that on the “StableMaterials” web page you could generate textures, but when trying to do it on Hugging Face, you hit barriers. For example, on the "StableMaterials" website, you can create textures, but on the Hugging Face platform, you can’t! 🤦 Here’s the link so you can see it yourself: StableMaterials online.
And Then, a Ray of Hope 🌈✨
I said: “Well, let’s move forward.” 🚶 I kept researching which models were truly enabled and found something encouraging: you don’t need to make requests from the backend like in the YouTuber’s tutorial. You can do it from the frontend! 🖥️✅ There’s documentation on Hugging Face that explains how to consume their APIs depending on the type of model: text-to-image, image-to-image, etc. Here’s the link, and trust me, it’s gold: Hugging Face Inference Guide. 📚✨
I even found an example on CodePen where I tested these ideas, which you can check out here: Test example on CodePen. This tool helped me try out how to consume some models directly from the frontend. 👨💻
But… Don’t Celebrate Just Yet 😅
With all this, I reached a point where I thought I was ready to tackle another model: "dream-textures/texture-diffusion". Everything was going well until Hugging Face hit me with another surprise: “This model does not have enough activity to be deployed to Inference API (serverless) yet.” 🤷 That’s when I felt like the world was laughing at me. The previous model I was trying to use, the one for textures, depended on this one. And if this one couldn’t be used, neither could the first. Frustration level 100. 🔥😤
The Moment You Want to Give Up 😔
When I got back to square one and saw that the Facebook model I was so interested in was also not compatible, I was left speechless. The message I found read: “Inference API (serverless) does not yet support model repos that contain custom code.” Friend, that hurt. 💔
Final Reflection 💭
Look, if there’s something I’ve learned from this adventure, it’s that Hugging Face is powerful, yes, but it also has its limits, especially if you’re looking for the free and simple route. Sometimes, the simplest thing becomes complicated, and you have to think of alternatives like setting up your own server or using a Raspberry Pi. 🖥️🔧 Yes, there are options like Render that offer free plans, but they also have significant limitations. 🏷️
I know I might be asking for a lot, but who doesn’t dream of solutions that only require a fetch and that’s it? 🪄✨ For now, the conclusion is clear: Hugging Face is a fantastic tool, but with restrictions that are not always mentioned out loud. And if you’re like me, who wants to explore and build without spending a fortune on servers, be prepared to get creative. 💡🛠️
So here we are, in this chaotic journey full of ups and downs. 🎢 But you know what? Don’t give up. Sometimes, the most unexpected solution ends up working. And if you ever find the ultimate trick, I hope you share it with me. 🤝🌟