ill add some stuff later, but for now,
making scale armour,
1)Create a new image with the dimensions 500X300px(transparent background)
now using a hard round brush of 50px paint a circle, like so
we’re using 500X300px image and 50px brush, because that way we can have 10 circles in a row, and 10 in height(each circle being 30px lower than the previous)
2)open the layer style dialogue, and give this circle a drop shadow, bevel and emboss, and any other thing to make it look realistic,
3)now make a new layer, link it with the circle one and go to layer>merge linked.
and maybe add some details add some detail, i made a new layer, and made a tiny 6-8px dot near the bottom of the circle and gave it this layer style.
now layer>merge visible layers.
and add some color,
now go to filter>other>offset and position the circle like so,
3)create a new set, and place your circle layer in it
4)now duplicate the top layer layer, and offset it 50px horizontally, change the brightness slightly so it doesn’t look exactly like the previous
5)repeat step 4(duplicate the layer you’ve just duplicated and so on) until you have an entire row
6)now duplicate the top layer and place it in a new layer set, move this new set below the previous one.
7)now offset it 30px vertically, and 25px horizontally, and repeat step 4 and 5 with this set.
8)select a set, an go to layer>merge layer set do this for both sets.
duplicate the top layer, move it to the bottom and offset it 60px vertically and 100px-400px horizontally(so it doesn’t look like a copy)
then duplicate the 2nd layer from the bottom, and move it to the bottom and offset it like above, reapeat this until you have a full row
9)now duplicate the top layer, and move it to the bottom. select the top layer and make a selection of the lowest half and delete it.
also create a new layer, fill it with black and move it to the bottom.
then flatten your image, layer>flatten image
10)
now offset it 250 hor. and 150 vert.
you should now see if your image is seamless.
in my case i messed up, but no problem just smudge it with a soft brush
you have now created your own seamless scale armour texture
now when you use it for your skinning you will have to tile it, and scale it down to a realistic size. just don't forget to sharpen it, filter>sharpen>sharpen
good luck
example on a model,
and my seamless texture(i have duplicated the final image, desaturated it blurred it and set to overlay. flattened it and sharpened it 1-2 times)