Printing out a Diamond with nested for loops - loops

Question

For my java class one of the exercises is to print out a diamond using nested for loops. In the exercise you need to use the minimum amount of outputs, while using nested for loops. The other stipulation is that each output can only output 1 character such as a single space, a single asterisk, or a single end line statement.
I've finished it but i was wondering if there was an easier way to do it, or if anyone has tips on cleaning up my code. It just seems like ended up writing way more than was needed. Any help and tips are greatly appreciated. :)
Here is what the end result needs to look like:
Here is my code:
public class Diamond
{
public static void main(String args[])
{
int b = 11; // secondary asterisk loop counter
int ac = 2; // asterisk count
int sc = 5; // space count
int elc = 2; // end line count
int slc = 1; // space loop count
int sslc = 1; // secondary space loop count
for(int e = 1; e < elc && elc < 12;e++)
{
if(elc <= 6)
{
for(int a = 1; a < ac; a++)
{
for(;sc <= 5 && sc > 0; sc--)
{
System.out.print(" ");
}
System.out.print("*");
}
ac += 2;
sc = 5 - slc;
slc += 1;
}
else if (elc > 6)
{
ac -= 2;
sc = 1;
for (; b < ac ; b++)
{
for(;sc <= sslc && sc > -2; sc++)
{
System.out.print(" ");
}
System.out.print("*");
}
b = 1;
sslc += 1;
}
if(elc != 6)
{
System.out.println();
}
elc += 1;
}
}
}

Answer 1

You may try writing down the 4 edges of the diamond as equations (x+y=4; x-y=2... for example). Then just make a nested loop through each of the cell in the grid to see if you should print a space or a star. The test would look like
If f1(x,y) or f2(x,y) or f3(x,y) or f4(x,y): print '*' else print ' '
where f1,f2,f3,f4 are the equations for the 4 diagonals.
If you are required to minimize the number of characters to be printed, either use an array to prepare, then ignore the trailing spaces; or use some ad-hoc rule (like every row only 2 stars except the 1st and last...)

Answer 2

public class ASultan
{
public static void main(String[] args) {
int size = 9;
for (int i = 1; i < size; i += 2) {
for (int k = size; k >= i; k -= 2) {
System.out.print(" ");
}
for (int j = 1; j <= i; j++) {
System.out.print("*");
}
System.out.println();
}
for (int i = 1; i <= size; i += 2) {
for (int k = 1; k <= i; k += 2) {
System.out.print(" ");
}
for (int j = size; j >= i; j--) {
System.out.print("*");
}
System.out.println();
}
}
}