That's kind of a difficult question to answer, Duke, but let me give it a shot.
...A little history: In the past two or three years, I have struggled with conversions, trying many methods, such as SPM cloning, history brush, depth maps, etc. I just could not seem to get the hang of it for a lot of reasons, nor was I comfortable that I had a solid grasp on what I was
doing. I think that my patience (lack of) was the biggest obstacle. But over and above that, I felt that these established methods did not produce the necessary depth and stereo definition required by many images. Furthermore, the quality of my conversions just did not meet the excellence of the conversions made by people such as you, Brian, Larry, and others. So. I gave up in frustration (many times). But I just could not let go, and kept coming back for more torture and frustration.
Then, while sitting in the hospital with my failing mother, I started experimenting with my closest friend, Photoshop on my little 11 inch netbook. I found that the tools needed for most conversions were contained within, and those are the tools I used for the "Mario" image. I am not sure whether there is a name for this approach, but for now, and for the sake of inflating my ego, let's call it the "Ray" method.
The image was totally
converted in Photoshop, using the select, skew, warp, distort, and move tools. The liquify filter can sometimes be used, but it is difficult to restrict vertical shifting using this filter. Photoshop CC has a new tool called "perspective warp" which I suspect can be used for certain images, but I have not fully explored the pros and cons of this tool. I have developed a several other tricks in Photoshop which help in the conversion process, but to detail these tricks is a little lengthy.
So. I am still "a work in progress", Duke. Still refining Photoshop approaches to conversion, still have a long was to go. The frustration has diminished, and I now have a little hope that someday I will be able to master this skill.