What does model.eval() do in pytorch?
model.eval() is a kind of switch for some specific layers/parts of the model that behave differently during training and inference (evaluating) time. For example, Dropouts Layers, BatchNorm Layers etc. You need to turn off them during model evaluation, and .eval() will do it for you. In addition, the common practice for evaluating/validation is using torch.no_grad() in pair with model.eval() to turn off gradients computation:
# evaluate model:
model.eval()
with torch.no_grad():
...
out_data = model(data)
...
BUT, don't forget to turn back to training mode after eval step:
# training step
...
model.train()
...
model.train() |
model.eval() |
|---|---|
| Sets model in training mode: • normalisation layers1 use per-batch statistics • activates Dropout layers2 |
Sets model in evaluation (inference) mode: • normalisation layers use running statistics • de-activates Dropout layers |
Equivalent to model.train(False). |
You can turn off evaluation mode by running model.train(). You should use it when running your model as an inference engine - i.e. when testing, validating, and predicting (though practically it will make no difference if your model does not include any of the differently behaving layers).
- e.g.
BatchNorm,InstanceNorm - This includes sub-modules of RNN modules etc.
model.eval is a method of torch.nn.Module:
eval()Sets the module in evaluation mode.
This has any effect only on certain modules. See documentations of particular modules for details of their behaviors in training/evaluation mode, if they are affected, e.g.
Dropout,BatchNorm, etc.This is equivalent with
self.train(False).
The opposite method is model.train explained nicely by Umang Gupta.